Invasion of the White City
by Tegan Shade
Summary: "Then why are you trying to rescue her?" I paused "She's the one who gave me The power to be someone who can defend herself and protect others from darkness. I can't turn my back on her, not when she's stuck by me through everything else."
1. Prologue

So there we were – about to take the biggest leap of our lives…

Tegan Shade, age seventeen, was a teenager of diminutive stature and a quiet voice. Her hair had been dyed every shade under the sun when she was younger but a previous part-time job had forced her into her natural color – that is, deep brunette. Her bangs sometimes fell in her eyes and the back of her hair reached the base of her neck. Her piercing pale blue eyes perused the laptop sitting on the rock before her, the machine appearing completely out of place in the otherwise barren training ground. Today she wore nothing unusual: a black t-shirt paired with grey cargo pants, with straw-colored sandals on her otherwise bare feet. Tegan seemed unconcerned with where she was or why she was there; she was busy showing Kita Nightingale a video she had found on Youtube. Her pale eyes glanced at the other girl to gauge a reaction before adding her own comment every now and then, a small grin on her face.

Kita, for her part, managed a smile and a grimace at once and shook her head. "_Wow_." She was a few months older than her friend, already eighteen, and - like Tegan - her voice usually hovered on the quiet side unless provoked into anger. Her straight hair was naturally chocolate brown but was highlighted with blonde streaks and it hung down past her shoulders. Her hazel eyes seemed unsure whether she thought her friend was completely insane for showing this video to her and she told her as much. Tegan responded to this with a short laugh. Kita pulled at her blue tank top. She wore slightly new jeans and tennis shoes. On the back of her left shoulder, a tattoo of a blue butterfly over a crescent moon surrounded by stars was visible beneath the tank top's thin strap.

Unbeknownst to both girls, a third girl had been struggling to gain Tegan's attention for the last five minutes. "Tegan. _Tegan! Tegan Shade! Hey! Lady! Sister! Nee-Chan! Hey!_"

Presently, Tegan had enough. "_WHAT?_"

"How are you _doing _that? I thought Hatter said there's no Wifi down here…"

"He was lying to get me focused on training." Tegan grinned. "I found _that _out the _first_ day!"

Syketon Shade rolled her eyes. The younger sister of Tegan, she had just barely turned seventeen when Tegan's eighteenth birthday wasn't too far away. She was only slightly taller than Tegan, enough to look Kita in the eye at least. Her hair seemed to be the most recognizable thing about her – it was naturally golden but also thick, wavy and somewhat frizzy; at the moment it was tied back in a simple tail that allowed her bangs to fall slightly in her face. Her eyes were hazel. She wore a black Ghostbusters t-shirt – which she thought would be amusing – faded blue jeans, black tennis shoes and a silver class ring set with her pink birthstone. It seemed Syketon shared Tegan's quiet voice more than anything else – it was said often that Tegan inherited their father's looks while Syketon had their mother's – but Syketon seemed only able to keep silent around people she _didn't _know.

Case in point.

"_SYKE!_"

This was the only warning she received before she was tackled into a bear hug.

"_GET OFF! GET OFF!_"

"_SYKE! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN FOREVER!_"

"_You mean since yesterday._"

"_But before I didn't see you for like _two_ weeks on end and you never even _texted_ me!_"

"You told me you were training –"

"_That doesn't matter!_"

Syke, realizing that Match was being bothersome on purpose, hugged her back and wailed, "_MATCH YOU NEVER EVEN TRAINED WITH US! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN I WAS IN THE HOLE?_"

"…That's what he said."

"_Hush!_"

Match grinned as Syke abruptly wriggled out of her grip. She was easily the tallest and the most athletic girl among them, though she was also the youngest at sixteen. She was half-Mexican and it showed strongly. Her hair was long, dark, and straight, her eyes were deep brown, and there was usually a big grin on her face. She was also bouncy, as usual.

Syke glanced at the clothes she had on and smirked. "I thought you Quincy were supposed to have a white suit?"

"Umm…no." Match glanced down at her own clothes: jeans, a black belt, blue and white cowboy boots, and white t-shirt emblazoned with_ High School CHOIR _in blue letters.

"You're wearing blue and white, aren't you? That's supposed to be –"

"_I take pride in being a Quincy!_" Match declared. "It's just that…"

"She hates the clothes." The interjection came from her brother, who appeared deliberately between the two of them in an effort to startle one or both. Both of them merely glared at him. For his part, he wasn't wearing the traditional Quincy uniform either, but rather a comfortable pair of jeans, tennis shoes and a black t-shirt. Match's brother – Pyro – had dark-framed glasses, brown eyes, and brown hair. Unlike Match, his skin was pale like their father, which caused people to not realize right away that they were related. Upon realizing they _were _siblings people also normally didn't assume Pyro was the older of the two but he was eighteen. Pyro gave Syke a sly smile. "She thinks they look weird."

"You're not wearing it either!" Match declared.

"They _do _look weird!" Tegan stated loudly before returning to her laptop.

"That's fine," Syke answered. "I still think it feels strange that the Shinigami robes blow about with the slightest movement. It's like I'm wearing a sheet."

"_GOOD MOOOORNING…_"

"Oh, shit," Tegan eyes widened in realization of the threat approaching but she couldn't move away fast enough.

"_TEEEEEGAAAAN!_" Tegan found herself lifted up in the air from behind in another bear hug – it was only through a lot of practice that Tegan managed to get her laptop to safety first.

"_Dang it Kyvain –_ _KITA! HELP!_"

Kita merely chuckled.

"_LET MY SISTER GO!_" Syke roared, using Flash Step to close the distance – but by the time she got there the only thing she could do was bowl into her sister, who had been set down. With the Shade sisters sprawled awkwardly on top of each other and struggling to separate, Syke looked around and spotted Kyvain Urahara squatting on a nearby rock and watching with an extremely amused expression on his face.

Needless to say, the _good morning _thing was a habit Kyvain picked up from Isshin, their father. Of course they were best friends. Kyvain had an odd way of making friends with all sorts of people ranging from outcasts to athletes to video game enthusiasts - and the parents of said people as well. He was the tallest teenager there and the oldest at nearly nineteen. If one looked at him carefully, one could say his hair that was long enough to fall in his face and partially cover his neck, the lean build of his body, and his facial structure resembled that of his father – Urahara Kisuke. Like Match, his eyes and skin were brown and his hair was dark almost to the point of being black. Unlike Match, though, the shape of his eyes suggested Asian or Native American heritage as opposed to that of Mexican. Having never met his mother, though, he could never say exactly what he was crafted from.

"Where are _you _going?" he called, grinning broadly.

Syke helped Tegan to her feet. "_Match! Kita! _Give us a hand!"

Kita and Match glanced at each other and both smiled wickedly.

His grin faltered only for a second. "_Four on one…_"

"Damn right." Tegan smiled, baring her teeth.

Kisuke Urahara was sitting cross-legged across from a black cat only a few feet away from the ladder that led down into the training area.

"So, Yoruichi," he said calmly, addressing the feline, "is Kita good enough to survive Soul Society?"

"She's come a long way," the cat said in a distinctly male voice. Both members of the conversation seemed unaware of Pyro's Spartan-like battle cry as he joined the fray. "What about the Shade sisters?"

A smile twitched Urahara's mouth. "Well…"

"_OWWWW! MATCH!_ _THAT HURT!_"

To which a chorus of female voices chimed, "_WE TOLD YOU NOT TO GET INVOLVED, PYRO!_"

"Syke's fighting style has improved greatly but she still sometimes gets frustrated by her own limitations."

"_Spark –_"

"_NO SHIKAI, DUMBASS!_"

"As for Tegan, she is an extremely skilled combatant…"

"_DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!_"

"…but her focus is lacking." Urahara seemed to notice the brawl happening a few yards away for the first time, because he smirked at Yoruichi. "_This_ is the bunch you'll be breaking into Seireitei with."

Disgusted, the cat shook its head. "I was hoping to _sneak _in but I can already see _that _will be impossible…"

"_OUUUUCCCCHHH! DAMN IT, HE FREAKING BIT ME!_"

"_YOU TRIED TO PUNCH ME!_"

The cat glared at Urahara. "If you don't break them up, _I will!_"

"Oooh my," Urahara replied, fanning his face as though the very thought worried him. "Whatever can a small cat _do _against a bunch of Soul Reapers, Quincy, and a human? Hmmm?"

The cat looked away. "Don't tempt me, Kisuke. _I'll rip their arms from their bodies, I swear it!_"

"Now, now," Urahara said soothingly, patting Yoruichi's head. A hiss later, Urahara drew back with nasty scratches on his fingers. "Oooh. Ouch." He stood up and whispered down to Yoruichi, "Now watch this." He raised his cane and shouted above the commotion, "_SING, BENIHIME!_"

Tegan and Syketon, who were working together with Kita to pin Kyvain down while Tegan ruthlessly messed his hair, immediately glanced up with Kyvain at the sound of Urahara's voice. "_WHAT?_"

Match, who had Pyro pinned down, was momentarily surprised that everyone had fallen silent. Pyro seized the opportunity to throw her to the ground and scramble away.

Urahara grinned down at Yoruichi, who stared back – tail twitching in reluctant acknowledgment. Then the cat brought up an old joke to Kyvain in the relative quiet, "The girls really are all over you, Kyvain."

To which the three pinning him down screamed, "_WHAT DID YOU SAY, FUZZBALL?_"

"Shut up! Shinigami, out of your bodies!" Urahara ordered gleefully.


	2. One

**First person view is for Syketon Shade. For anyone else it will be in third person view. **

"Whatever happens," Yoruichi finished seriously, yellow eyes staring through the gate that Urahara just created, "don't stop running. Just stick with me and you'll be okay."

Immediately, I wondered how far we'd have to run. The cat said something like ten minutes, though I couldn't be certain; my attention had been drawn to Tegan, who was currently attempting to poke Urahara's hat without him noticing. Her finger managed to get an inch away before Kita smacked it down and she would try again.

Yoruichi frowned at them as Match and I barely managed to suppress giggles. "Did you hear a word I just said?"

Tegan answered promptly, "We have thirty minutes-"

"_Ten _minutes-"

"Yeah, whatever. Just keep running and follow you, right?" She put on what I suppose was meant to be a winning smile. Honestly, it probably was just creeping out the _talking cat_.

Urahara snapped open his fan, waving it in his face as he answered nonchalantly, "That is correct. You have exactly ten minutes before the gate closes and you're trapped between the Human World and Soul Society for all of eternity. Oh, and by the way – your ten minutes began thirty-three seconds ago."

"_Ah, shit!_" Kita cried. On that note, Tegan, Kita, Pyro, Match, Kyvain and I followed Yoruichi through the gate.

Urahara was still fanning his face when Tessai walked up, stuck his hands in his pockets, and watched the gate close behind the motley group with a flash. "Do you think they will rescue that Soul Reaper?"

Urahara snapped his fan closed, patted Tessai on the shoulder, and then walked back toward the ladder leading upwards. "Start praying." He paused at the foot of the ladder and added thoughtfully, "It's cleaning day, isn't it?"

As Urahara climbed up and up, finally disappearing through the floor of his shop, Tessai thought with some amusement, _So their adventures shall begin already. I hope they make it to Soul Society, considering how _filthy_ some of them are –_It was at this point that a deafening shriek rocked the entire shop and the world down below it.

"WHERE'S MY HAT!_?_"

Tessai couldn't suppress a small smile from forming beneath his moustache. _Tegan's definitely getting better, _he thought as he walked toward the ladder. _I never saw the moment that stupid hat disappeared from his head._

"_Oh come on!_"

Those were my thoughts exactly, but I didn't have voice enough to express them. In any case, Kita managed just fine for all of us. We were sprinting down what seemed to be a dark tunnel surrounded by dense fog. We had only been going for a few minutes but I was already out of breath; the whole exercise unpleasantly reminding me of gym class. In this case, however, our finish line was a freaking glowing doorway that loomed impossibly far away. But the doorway is not what Kita screamed about. She had seen what was behind us.

Everyone glanced back at the sound of her yells and saw a huge black shadow close behind us - and gaining. The shape of it reminded me faintly of a bullet train but it was easily twice as tall as Kyvain and had a single glowing yellow eye the size of a dinner plate.

"What the hell?" I cried, almost stumbling in disbelief.

"It's a cleaner!" Yoruichi yelled, sounding not quite so calm anymore. "It comes through here every seven days!"

"We _would _be here on that _one day!_" I lamented loudly, more frustrated than anything.

"So this cleaner thing is bad?" Pyro hollered.

"Very bad!" Yoruichi affirmed. "_Run!_"

"I thought we were _already_ running-" The others didn't seem to hear me. As hard as I tried to keep up, they were steadily pulling away from me, and the stupid door wasn't getting any closer. I was panting like a dog, my limbs were getting heavy, and my heart was pounding in my ears. Sweat was rolling off in bullets but the chill at my back was growing colder and told me the cleaner was gaining.

From the front, Kyvain glanced over his shoulder and looked right at me. Even after knowing for so long that _nothing_ made him panic, the calm in his eyes still infuriated me to the point that I never saw him fall back and grab my hand. All I knew was, suddenly, he was dragging me along at his breakneck pace as the ground we were running on rattled through our shoes.

Kita, who had been running directly in front of me, was suddenly beside us. She looked at me, who was close to a heart attack, then at Kyvain, who was grimly running, and then behind us, where the cleaner was closing in. Something flashed in her eyes. She stopped and whirled around, as the rest of us continued to run.

"_Damn it!_ Qaletaqa! _I REJECT!_" As she shouted, she stretched out both hands with her open palms facing the cleaner and her intertwined fingers and thumbs forming a rough triangle. As soon as the incantation was complete, a white snowy mist spread from her fingers to form a force field in the shape of an upside-down triangle in front of her. The cleaner crashed against it with a deafening _bang_.

"Let's go!" Pyro yelled and together we hurtled through the door of light.

The next thing I knew, we were standing in the middle of a dusty road and Kyvain was complaining. "I can't believe I had to save you _again! _You almost got me killed!"

"_Shut up, boy!_" I roared. "I never _asked you _to _save me!_"

I hit him.

Before I could land a second hit, Kyvain ducked away as Tegan and Match pushed between us and said in unison, "Do we need to separate you two?"

Tegan was on the ground in a second, thanks to a deft movement by Kyvain, and Match immediately leaped at him. As I attempted to help her, I found myself seized from behind by Pyro, who was yelling and laughing gleefully, "Get her, Kyvain!"

At this point, Kyvain ran for me. Match, who had jumped on his back in an attempt to stop him, shouted, "Kita! Help!"

"_I reject!_"

_Wham!_

Kyvain and Match were both flat on their back, Kyvain having slammed face-first into a white force field. Kita was already doubled over in laughter, struggling to catch her breath. Pyro, Tegan and I were laughing too, but no quite as hard. At this point, I realized Tegan had a green and white hat on her head - Urahara's hat. I had to wonder when she had managed to swipe that.

"_CHILDREN!_" Yoruichi's scream cut a knife through everyone's good time. Yellow eyes blazing, the cat continued, "_FOCUS! Do you remember WHY we all risked our lives coming here?_"

Pyro released me to look down at the black cat with the twitching tail as he smirked disdainfully. "Could you give us a hint?" he asked smoothly.

I suppose the only thing that saved Pyro's eyes from getting clawed out by a homicidal feline was a deep booming voice that interrupted us.

"Hello!"

It was only then that I took stock of where we were. To our right was a dirt road leading through a village composed mostly of shacks and other crude buildings. No inhabitants were in sight.

To our left was a massive stone wall, many stories high with a wooden gate set in it. Standing before this gate was a twenty-foot-tall ape with a red hat on his head. His small eyes peered down at us with interest. "I am Jidanbo, Guardian of the West Gate. Who are you?" he boomed.

Pyro pointed up at him and nudged Match. "Look, sis. A monkey." He was apparently still feeling slightly vindictive.

The rest of us were forced to stifle giggles.

Jidanbo's eyes narrowed as he frowned at us. "Country hicks," he barked "I don't know where you came from, but around here, we have manners."

"I don't know where _you're _from," Tegan answered immediately, "but where _we're _from, giant monkeys don't talk!"

Jidanbo raised a giant finger that was longer than Tegan's entire body and pointed it straight at her. "You. Who are you?"

Tegan folded her arms and said importantly, "Tegan Shade, Unofficial Soul Reaper, at your service."

"Tegan Shade, huh?" Jidanbo bared his massive teeth in a fierce grin. "You're first."

"What?"

Jidanbo's grin widened. "If you want through the gate, you each must fight me, one at a time. If you defeat me, I will let you through. If I defeat you, you die and will never insult anyone ever again. Be warned: in the three hundred years I've been guarding this gate, not one Ryoka has surpassed me, though many have tried. If you still wish to get through this gate, you, as their leader, will be my first opponent."

"Who said I'm their leader?" Tegan protested in irritation.

Jidanbo ignored her outburst. "Tegan Shade, Unofficial Soul Reaper, do you want to fight me…or do you want to live?"

Tegan stared, seemingly calculating as she smiled up at Jidanbo. "You want to fight me? Fine."

"Tegan!" Kyvain interjected, but she waved him away impatiently.

Jidanbo smirked as he pulled out two gigantic axes from behind him, each bigger than three of us put together. "I'm going to enjoy this."

Tegan seemed to realize something important and started patting her clothes, then turned around in wide circles - searching. She even took off Urahara's hat in order to shake it out and peer at the lining as though the answer to life itself rested within the stitches. "Where's my zanpakuto?"

I looked at her in disbelief. "Is that a serious question?"

"_I specifically told them not to wander off!_" Tegan yelled in frustration. Immediately, Pyro and Match produced pocket knives out of _nowhere _and offered them to her. Tegan glared at them. "You've got to be kidding me! Those things aren't big enough to pick his teeth!"

Yoruichi turned to me and said, "Syke, give her your-"

_Wham! _

Jidanbo slammed both axes into the ground, the force of it creating a huge wall of displaced earth between Jidanbo and Tegan and the rest of us. Tegan turned back to Jidanbo, looking distinctly irritated. "How rude."

"You have no right to lecture me on rudeness, country hick!"

"I don't even have a weapon!" she exclaimed.

"Not my problem! You accepted my challenge without a weapon; from here, you receive no help from your friends!"

Tegan yelled furiously, "Well so much for being polite!"

Jidanbo roared, "You called me a monkey! Politeness has gone out the window!"

From the other side of the wall, Kyvain called, "Tegan! I'm blasting my way through!"

"Don't you dare!" Tegan yelled back.

"What?"

"This guy's _really _getting on my nerves! I'm going to defeat him myself!"

From the other side, we saw Jidanbo raise his axes and bring them down so quickly they became twin blurs. Another blast of earth shot up into the sky. A deathly silence fell.

Then we all heard Tegan yell, "It's rude to attack until your opponent is _ready!_"

"_When do you ever shut up?_" Jidanbo cried. The rest of us whooped; Tegan had dodged the blow successfully.

It was fairly easy dodging the axes for Tegan because Jidanbo's arms were short and his movement predictable, though as time passed the blades came closer and closer. The problem was, she thought in irritation as she rolled out of the way yet again, she had no way to strike back. Her zanpakuto had vanished _again! _She rolled over something sharp. Without thinking she pulled it from the ground and held it out before her defensively.

It was a stick. …. Of course it was.

One swipe of Jidanbo's axe removed all of it just above Tegan's fingers, leaving her a bit of wood only a few inches long. She dropped it, shrinking back as Jidanbo's laughter boomed. "A stick! _A stick! _Oh, I've never seen that one!" He was nearly out of breath from laughing so hard. "I think that's a sign that I should finish this! Jidan ten-hit festival!"

"What's-?"

Then the axes came down in increasingly rapid succession. "One! Two! Three! Four!"

Tegan kept throwing herself this way and that but she saw with vague unease a piece of her sleeve come fluttering off with that last hit.

"Eight! Thirteen! Seven! Two! Two! And this makes…_TEN!_" With that last cry, both axes came down with impossible speed and force.

"_Brother, I believe we've hidden ourselves long enough._"

"_It was a great joke._"

"_Yes, most excellent. But I fear our absence has left young Tegan at a loss, even against someone so…_"

"_Idiotic?"_

"_I was going to say mediocre._"

"_Per'aps mentally challenged?_"

"_He's no challenge for us._"

"_Indeed. Per'aps it is time we played with 'im a while and let Tegan take it easy._"

"_Indeed. The poor girl has enough troubles already._"

"_Fair is foul -_"

"_-and foul is fair._"

"_What?_" Jidanbo gazed down, mouth agape. "No one has withstood my ten-strike festival _and lived!_"

Tegan stood slowly. She could feel a gash on her leg burning as it bled but she remained on her feet and glared defiantly up at Jidanbo.

"Yeah? Well, you've never fought me." Tegan looked down at her feet and saw something that would have relieved her, had her nerves not been shot from the battle. It was a katana with a white and black hilt lying directly before her toes, waiting to be picked up.

"Of course." She said as she grasped the sword from the ground, turned it over to examine it, and then drew it from its sheath fluidly. "Jidanbo, I have bad news."

"What's that?"

Tegan's eyes flashed as she stabbed the sword's blade into the earth at her feet, placing the sheath within her belt on her back.

"I've dodged your ten-strike festival _and_ my zanpakuto has returned to me. Do you want to continue this fight now that it's over, or do you want to live?"

Jidanbo stared at her for a moment, and then began to chuckle. The chuckle became a laugh, and the laugh turned hysterical, until tears were streaming out of his eyes and he was clutching his stomach.

"_Oh-ho!_ You talk big for someone I could smash between two fingers! After fighting me this long and observing my fighting style, what makes you think you stand a chance _now_?"

Tegan stared at him without any emotion.

"Until now, this wasn't a fight. It was you attacking feebly and me dodging. Until now, I had no weapon, though that didn't seem to matter to you." Tegan smirked at the look of unease in his eyes as she seized the hilt of her zanpakuto with her right hand. "Until now, you had a chance… Laugh as the world decays…_Gemini!_"

She yanked the sword upwards; where it been there appeared another one with a white blade and hilt. The sword in her hand had turned completely black. Her left hand plucked the white sword from the ground. She spun both weapons once in her hands, and then brandished them before her. "Strike, Jidanbo! If you dare!"

Jidanbo roared and brought both axes down a final time. Tegan leaped into the air and swung both swords. As she leapt into the air, the ground around her began lift into the air and break apart into a fine dust before it swirled around the hilt of her white short sword. The white blade struck an axe and the weapon shattered in a flash of energy; the black sword struck the other axe causing it to immediately rust and rot as it fell apart before their eyes.

Tegan landed smoothly then straightened up to look at Jidanbo with no small sense of triumph. Jidanbo was left staring dumbly at his newly empty hands.

"I've won, as I said I would," Tegan announced. "Now-"

Tegan stopped when she saw that Jidanbo's eyes were looking moist. _No, there is no way he would- _Jidanbo then threw back his head and howled pitifully, tears streaming down his face. "_My axes! What have you done to my axes? YOU MONSTER!_"

"What?" Tegan asked in confusion, still holding her twin swords.

It was then my voice reached her. "Tegan, what did you _do?_"

"_Nothing!_" Tegan shouted, defensively then she faltered, "I mean…I defeated him..."

"Did you have to destroy his axes?" Match said, as Jidanbo's wails became louder.

"_Yes!_ I mean…" Tegan looked up at Jidanbo, honestly at a loss for words. Without the axes, the monkey did look kind of pathetic. Tegan walked up and patted him uneasily on the hand. "Hey there…I didn't mean to destroy your axes, but…we had a deal, right? I have defeated you, and now you have to open the gate."

Jidanbo, snuffling, looked at her. "You're right." And then he began crying anew as he yelled, "_Oh! Not only has she defeated me in battle, but she apologizes! She is the bigger man! I am only a crying baby compared to her!_"

Tegan blinked slowly then turned to face where she knew we were standing. "Did he just call me a man?"

"_Of course you may pass! You and your comrades!_"

"You mean…we don't have to fight you?" I asked, yelling to be heard past the wall.

"She has defeated me…" Jidanbo said grimly, knocking down the dirt walls between us. "She is your leader, so I will let you all pass."

"Not their leader," Tegan grumbled, eyes closed and smile gone.

Kyvain nodded then slid out of his cape and offered it to Jidanbo. "You have snot everywhere."

Jidanbo gratefully blew his nose on the fabric then offered it back to Kyvain. Kyvain took a look at it and said immediately, "You can keep that."

Tegan returned her zanpakuto to normal and sheathed it, muttering, "Where _were _you guys?"

"_In a place without a name-._"

"_In a name without a place._"

"_Rather enjoyable actually-_"

"_But we saw that you are lost without us, so we had to come back -._"

"_To save our precious shinigami wielder_."

Tegan hissed, "_Shut up!_" She heard the two voices start to laugh in unison. She shuddered, her zanpakuto creped _her_ out sometimes.

Jidanbo had stuck Kyvain's cape in his pocket and walked over to the gate. He gripped the bottom of it and heaved upward.

It didn't budge.

"Damn!" Jidanbo threw his weight into it again and again but the gate never even shifted. "This gate has not been opened for three hundred years…could you ryoka give me a hand?"

Pyro, muttering something along the lines of, "You've got to be kidding me", walked over to help Jidanbo and Kyvain lift the gate. Together, they managed to make it budge a few inches and once that happened, Jidanbo seemed able to manage the rest by himself.

As the gate lifted up, Tegan spied the most interesting thing she had seen all day - a bright green dragonfly, swooping down from up high and flying through the opening of the gate. She felt drawn to it, entranced by its very presence. It seemed to be beckoning her through the gate and so she followed it – mind already diverted from the previous matter at hand.

Heaven or earth, it _was_ the most beautiful dragonfly ever created.

As Tegan rushed after the dragonfly unnoticed by everyone else, Jidanbo crouched down in order to keep the gate open. However, as he looked under the gate, he froze where he was, pausing in a crouched position with the gate held in both hands just above his massive head. "_Captain?_"

All of us looked to where his eyes were fixed. Beyond the massive walls, previously hidden from view, was a city-maze of white Asian-style dwellings. Beyond an open area surrounding the gate, all one could see were white walls and thatched roofs. Beyond this was a hill. One side of it was completely dominated by towering white buildings; the other side, not buried under man-made structures, showed itself to be as flat and sparsely covered as an un unused table. The Seireitei was a beautiful city.

Standing before the gate was a man whose presence was unexpected by everyone present, including myself. His face was young and his build slim beneath flowing black robes and a white sleeveless jacket. He wore a belt from which hung a simple katana. His hair was straight, hung loosely past eye level, and was a beautiful shade of silver that reflected in the sun with a light lilac color. Upon seeing his hair, I will admit I was jealous. But even with that hair, I would never want that face. Though his face was otherwise handsome, his eyes were squinted so that they were almost shut and a grin that was neither natural nor welcoming was across it. The smile was far too wide - too fixed, and rather then put the mind at ease, it somehow managed to push me from nonchalance to pure terror in an instant. I found myself barely able to breathe just from looking at him.

When he spoke, it was an oily, nasty sound that I could only imagine coming from a snake. "What is this, Jidanbo?"

Match hissed quietly, "Yoruichi? Who is this guy? He gives me the creeps…"

Yoruichi's tone was hushed; if I didn't know any better, I'd say even the cat was a little unsettled. "The captain of Squad Three…Gin Ichimaru."

"He's a captain?" Kyvain whispered. Though he still wasn't scared, his tone was wary.

Something was bothering me about that smile. At first I thought my feelings were because it was obviously a mask that was hiding something black beneath the surface but at this point, I was sure there was something else wrong about it. No - not wrong so much as…terribly familiar. Where have I seen a smile like that? Had I seen him somewhere before? His name didn't sound familiar in the slightest…

"Jidanbo," he prodded, his uncanny expression unchanging though his tone had gotten harder - colder.

"Captain…" Jidanbo said again. "These Ryoka have defeated me, so I must open the gate."

If I didn't know any better, I'd say amusement glinted in the captain's partially open eyes when he said this. "You're kidding, right? Because no gatekeeper could possibly be _that _stupid, even an _ape_ such as yourself."

_So we're not the only ones who see it_, I thought randomly. That fact didn't make me feel any better.

Ichimaru paused, as though expecting a response from Jidanbo, who offered none. The captain sighed dramatically and ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, well. It appears we all expected too much from your puny mind and abilities - _including_ myself."

"They defeated me." Jidanbo repeated, as though Ichimaru hadn't heard him the first time.

Abruptly, Ichimaru whipped out his katana and roared, "_Then be defeated!_" His blade grew before our very eyes, extending quickly to over ten times its natural length, so that the edge of it sliced through the flesh of Jidanbo's upper arm. With a flick of Ichimaru's wrist, Jidanbo shouted in pain and his arm was sprouting blood. Something horrible was happening but I was not sure what – and with a loud thud, something twice my size landed in front of me.

It was Jidanbo's hand.

As I let out a horrified scream and jumped back, the gate, having lost half of its support, fell until it sank into Jidanbo's shoulders and forced him to one knee. Blood was flowing freely from his stump, enough to feed a river. Sweat had broken out on his forehead, and his teeth were gritted. Most of us moved back, gazing at Ichimaru in terror.

"_Be defeated_." Ichimaru repeated coldly as his sword returned to normal length, which he sheathed. "_The gatekeeper should never open the gate._" He paused thoughtfully. "You should die first," he continued in a softer voice. "With your body blocking the way, even your corpse would have been useful…"

Jidanbo moaned, "But my axes…"

"Ohh…your axes…" Ichimaru's grin widened sickeningly. "Your axes. You mean those toys that some _ryoka's_ sword was able to cut through like paper? Let me ask you something, Jidanbo. What use are you, really? Because I'm beginning to think that you'd serve a greater purpose if I cut you down right here and build myself a gate out of your flesh. Suppose anyone would ever want to open _that_ gate? _Hmmm_?" Whether Jidanbo's face was pale from loss of blood or this new threat, I couldn't tell.

Match pulled out her bow as Pyro drew his gun. The cat opened its mouth to stop them, but it was already too late; both Quincys had fired.

To me, the twin beams seemed to flash toward him in slow motion, though I know for a fact it took only a fraction of a second from the time the weapons were fired to the point where the projectiles were a yard away from Gin Ichimaru. They were moving too quickly to react.

Ichimaru's smile broadened.

In one motion the captain drew his katana and struck the beams, sending them both flying straight back –

They pierced into Jidanbo's chest - the spiritual energy was released - and the giant was thrown fifty feet backwards. The gate began to slide downward unimpeded.

I drew my own zanpakuto, furious, but I was already too late. Our group watched, stunned, as Ichimaru bent half over so he could give us a quick wave and a last glimpse of that demented smile before the gate slammed shut. "Bye bye."

I swung my zanpakuto at the gate, knowing before I did so that it was useless. The gate was easily several feet thick. The blade buried itself a few inches in and stayed there. I let it stick, quivering, out of the wood as I struck the gate weakly with my fist. "Damn it!"

Meanwhile, Pyro waved back at an invisible Ichimaru, a fake grin on his face and his tone bitter, "Bye bye. Thank you. Goodbye now. Thank you. Goodbye."

Match smacked him in the back of his head. "_Really_ Pyro?"

Pyro threw open his hands as though surprised, tone still bitter. "What? He was asking for it! Besides, Tegan gets the reference." He looked around. "Tegan?" The bitter smile faded from his face.

"We've lost Tegan, haven't we?" Kita said in frustration as all of us glanced around for the short Soul Reaper.

"Did Ichimaru get her?" I asked uneasily, yanking my zanpakuto from the gate and replacing it in its sheath.

"I don't think so…" Yoruichi stated.

"She probably saw a fucking dragonfly and ran after it!" Kita snarled in anger, throwing up her hands. A loud moan came from behind us and we all turned to see Jidanbo still lying on the ground, the stump of an arm still gushing blood.

"Do you suppose we should help him?" I asked, uncertainty clouding my voice.

"I don't know," Pyro said truthfully. "He _did _try to kill Tegan."

"He opened the gate for us." I pointed out.

"After Kyvain and I did half the work!"

"Shut up!" Kyvain said suddenly. He had sheathed his zanpakuto and been listening without a word until this point. "He lost his hand because of us and he is no longer a threat. And even if he was – if Tegan could take him down so easily, I could do it in my sleep."

"Now look who thinks he's got the biggest zanpakuto," I muttered.

Not hearing me, he continued, "Kita, can you heal him?"

"I'll need a hand."

"The rest of us can't-"

"No, Kyvain, I'll need a _hand_."

"Here, Kita," I said, reluctantly poking at the piece of flesh that had fallen at my feet, "I'll lend you a hand."

Kita and I placed the hand approximately where it should be and she began to heal it using that odd orange dome. Dang, that was useful.

Meanwhile, Yoruichi was talking to us very seriously.

"Everyone – and this means _you_, Kyvain – avoid captains and lieutenants if at all possible. When I _say_ if at all possible, I mean if you see one, _run._"

"Sensei," I said, raising my hand, "how will we _know_ when we see a captain or lieutenant? Will they all be wearing that silly outfit?"

Yoruichi's tone said she thought that was the stupidest question anyone had ever asked anybody else. "All captains wear that white jacket, yes, but _most _in the Seireitei dress in black and white – besides, what if you run into a lieutenant that happens to be wearing a pink robe instead of a black one?"

"So how-?"

"You already know what one of the captains _looks_ like - and you remember his rietsu. Use that to your advantage. Remember, appearances can be deceiving," the cat said impatiently.

"Wait – what's rietsu?" I asked.

"What's riet- didn't any of you notice the massive spiritual pressure coming off him?"

I asked immediately, "The what?"

"The spiritual pressure! All captains and lieutenants have abnormally high spiritual pressure, and that's what makes them dangerous!"

"Yeah, about that…I've never been too observant," I admitted, slightly sheepish.

"I was trying to figure out what he was smiling about," Kyvain added in, "And Dad never really got into all of it."

The cat rolled its eyes and turned to Match and Pyro. "Surely you two know what I'm talking about - being Quincy?"

"Well, yeah," Match said in a no-duh voice. Pyro nodded in agreement.

Kita glanced over at us from her work and added in, "I felt like my throat was about to get crushed. Does that count?"

Yoruichi sighed. "Okay, you're all hopeless. Let's go with something simpler. All captains usually wear those white coats with the number of their squad inscribed on their back. Avoid those with the white coats. Okay?"

"Yes, sensei," we responded together, slightly put out at being called hopeless.

"The lieutenants are also dressed in black and they are supposed to be wearing badges on their arms. Normally, though, they don't even bother."

I asked, "Isn't everyone else dressed in black, too?"

"Yes…but, the thing about the Soul Reapers is they like to announce their squad and rank before they do battle. This is because they feel they must honor these things. They won't care if it means nothing to you. And sometimes, they will tell you exactly why you are about to lose your battle, tell you when they are attacking, and then they will fight. Use that to your advantage as well - make them lose their focus rather than you. "

Pyro questioned eagerly, a slight laugh in his voice, "Are 'your mom' jokes allowed?"

"'Your face' is acceptable." Yoruichi replied seriously then snickered and continued, "However, make one quip about someone's mom to the wrong person and they won't even tell you who they are or what they're capable of. They'll just cut off your head, shove it on a stick, and make it talk. That's why Kenpachi is captain of Squad Eleven now – the former captain referenced his nonexistent mother and Kenpachi ripped him in half."

"He has no mom?"

"None. He's an orphan."

I was puzzled by this. "So this guy was angry about the captain insulting his mother, even though he didn't know her?"

"Nope. He just couldn't think of a decent comeback." Yoruichi smiled a little. "With Kenpachi, violence is always the answer."

I glanced at Kyvain. "You two have something in common."

"I don't like violence," Kyvain corrected. "I just enjoy fighting."

"Explain the difference."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Why?"

"Cause you're a _girl_."

"Bottom line," Yoruichi said loudly, putting an early end to the bloodshed, "there are thirteen captains and twelve lieutenants. Avoid them all."

"Because if we fight one of them, we're fucked," I added. "We get it."

During this time, none of us noticed the people that were gathering around - more showing up from inside the buildings every minute.

Kita looked up, slightly nervous, "Who are these people and why are they all staring at me?"


	3. Two

Yoruichi glanced at the people dressed in rags that peered at us warily. Though they easily outnumbered us ten to one, they still kept their distance. "They are the residents of the Rukon district. And do you really need to ask why they are staring, considering the spectacle we've just created?"

"They saw that?" I asked lamely, unsure of how I felt in that regard.

"I guarantee it. Pay them no mind, Kita."

It turns out, Jidanbo was very grateful for having his hand returned to him and the residents of Rukon were very grateful to us for helping Jidanbo, whom they considered a friend. They offered us shelter and food in return for their gratitude. Walking through the dusty streets, however, I found it hard to believe that this crappy little town and the beautiful Seireitei both were not only part of Soul Society but only a matter of feet apart.

In a way though, the Rukon was still beautiful to me. Here in Soul Society, the air was purer and the sun somehow brighter than in the Human World but I could not say yet whether it was a better place. Even more so with every moment that I spent there.

The group as a whole had fallen silent, everyone in their own respective thoughts. Tegan's absence was becoming more and more apparent. We had managed to walk by half a dozen butterflies without someone stopping in her tracks to gaze at them. That alone was odd for our group. Tegan was usually distracted by one thing or another and we had all grown used to her random comments and observations.

I glanced sideways at Kyvain, noting that he was now walking in front with his hands in his pockets and a faraway look in his eyes.

"The alpha female in our pack has gone missing." I stated, unable to bear the silence any longer.

"She's in the Seireitei. Alone. And that guy with the stupid grin is keeping me from going after her." His voice was bitter as he glanced at the ground and then up again.

"Tegan can take care of herself," I told him, rather unnecessarily. I was trying to put his mind at ease but it was difficult when all I could think about was that there were _twelve others _just like Ichimaru…and the Seireitei was surrounded by walls. _It's only a matter of time before – _Yoruichi cut off my thoughts.

"Syke is right about Tegan," Yoruichi affirmed confidently, striding next to him. "She may be easily distracted but she is also a shrewd and determined individual. Her short stature will also help her avoid unnecessary attention. I believe she will be fine until we meet up with her again."

I started, "Ichimaru-"

As though Yoruichi had read my thoughts, the cat interjected, "The Seireitei is several miles wide and solidly packed with countless buildings arranged in a maze-like layout. The odds of her running into him again are slim indeed…unless she does something stupid."

"There are twelve others as well," Kyvain stated flatly. "Tell me there's another way in."

"Of course there is," Yoruichi said. "What do you take me for, a common tabby? We are going to speak with an old friend of mine, Kukaku."

"Who is he?" Match asked.

"Someone who has the ability to help and happens to like getting into trouble. Follow me."

Tegan had lost the dragonfly about a minute after she saw it. A second after that, there had been a lot of commotion coming from behind her, followed by a solid bang. She blinked at the noise then turned around and hurried down the paved road from the direction in which she came - until she saw the gate.

It was closed. If she looked carefully, she saw something that looked suspiciously like blood splashed on the bottom edge of it. There was no sign of the others.

_Now don't panic…_

Hearing footsteps approaching, she threw herself around the nearest corner, ducked down, and held her breath. Not a second later, a man came into view, walking away from the gate. Silver hair flashed in the sun. He seemed to be smiling at nothing at all.

_Now _there's_ a guy that looks like a Shinigami pedophile. _

To Tegan, he appeared to be taking a leisurely stroll through the Seireitei, thus she expected him to pass her by without confronting her. However, his lazy walk halted not five feet from where she was standing. His broad smile retracted some, though did not erase itself completely. His head turned first to the left and then to the right, at which Tegan flattened herself against the wall and stared up at the sky. _If I can't see him, he can't see me… I don't even look like I'm sixteen let alone seventeen…He'll probably offer me candy… _She shuddered at the thought.

"Captain!" The man's attention was distracted by a dozen shinigami who had rounded another corner, and Tegan risked peeking around the corner. _Captain? _Indeed, they were addressing Smiley. _That's _CAPTAIN_ Smiley to you, knave, _she thought to herself.

Apparently, they were all much further down in rank then he was because they all looked at him with varying mixtures of respect and fear.

"Captain! What has happened? We felt a disturbance –"

The man spoke and immediately Tegan recoiled at the sound of his voice, which was cold and slick as ice.

"Nothing has happened that you need to concern yourself with." The smile was a broad grin once again. "And you can tell Captain Hitsugaya the same."

On that note, Captain Smiley, as she had dubbed him, swept past them in a hurry as though he suddenly remembered he had somewhere more important to be.

Relieved, Tegan watched him go as she thought, _His voice is almost as creepy as his smile_.

"_Is he as creepy as the weapon you use – _"

" – _to slay the scary pedophiles and Hollows?_"

_Shut up_, Tegan thought, giving her zanpakuto's hilt a warning squeeze. _If I'm stuck in the Seireitei for an undetermined amount of time and all I have to listen to is you two, I _will_ go insane!_

The two voices sang together, "_Shouldn't you be less concerned about us and more concerned about _them_?_" Sure enough, some of the Shinigami were moving her way.

_Shut up! _She thought again, even as she rose and sprinted away before they could see her.

Our group was on the edge of the Rukon district, walking slowly. All of us were worn out from today's occurrences; in fact, my body had expected the sun to set long before now. None of us had the heart to tell Kyvain to stop, though, not even Yoruichi, who until now had served as temporary parental unit. Kyvain was charging forward like a man possessed. Pretty soon, he was well ahead of all of us, including the cat that was supposed to be leading the way.

"Is he always like this on journeys?" Yoruichi asked, watching his figure vanish once again into a crowd of people far ahead of us.

"Pretty much," Pyro answered, shrugging helplessly.

"He cares about Tegan," Match stated. "He won't rest until she's back."

Yoruichi seemed genuinely concerned as he said, "If he doesn't rest, he can't fight."

"Try telling him that," I said tiredly. "It's Kyvain Urahara - Stubborn Soul Reaper. _You_ try reeling him back. I already know there's no point."

"Yep," Pyro agreed.

"Same here," Match added. Kita hummed in agreement.

Yoruichi didn't respond.

Kyvain, meanwhile, had managed to push his way through the crowd. The only casualty in this exercise was his shoulder striking another guy's, but it barely registered. His mind was elsewhere.

"_We can talk about it, you know._" Hyperion said calmly.

_It's not your burden to bear. Besides, you already know what's going on._

"Hey, you!"

Kyvain's thoughts turned away from his zanpakuto and his hazed eyes attempted to focus on the stranger. His mind wondered vaguely what had happened.

He was facing a tall, muscular man with dark eyes and hair. The guy wore a green bandana on his head, a long green vest, a white shirt, white pants with odd swirl designs on the side, and red gloves. His face was older than Kyvain's though not by much.

Currently it wore a scowl underscored by thick black eyebrows.

"You just bump into a man on the street and you don't even – Wait a minute." The man looked Kyvain up and down, and Kyvain watched as disgust deepened on his face. "_You're a stinking Soul Reaper!_"

Kyvain shrugged carelessly, impatient to be moving again. "And?"

"What do you mean, _and_?" he snarled. "You people make me sick! Your face is disgusting, your mom is a whore, and your dad is her pimp! What do you say to that?"

"Why are you still talking?"

"_WRONG!_" the man thundered, sticking a finger in Kyvain's face. Kyvain glanced at it, not in the least bit interested then stared blankly again at the man.

"You say, _I challenge you to a fight to defend my family's honor!_"

"I don't have to defend my family's honor against the likes of you," Kyvain answered without emotion. "Now stop embarrassing yourself."

"_Fine!_" Not seeming to hear Kyvain at all, he continued so loudly that the crowd around them turned to look, "If you will not challenge me to a fight, then _I _challenge _you_, Soul Reaper scum!"

Kyvain had lost the little interest he had until this point. He had taken exactly two steps away when the man yelled, "_YOUR GIRLFRIEND WEARS MEN'S UNDERWEAR!_"

Something flashed in Kyvain's eyes as he slowly turned back around to face the man. His voice was very quiet. "What did you say?"

"I _said…_" the man answered, leaning in to whisper it. "_Your bitch. Wears undergarments. That were specifically made for. The male gender_."

Without further ado, Kyvain's fist smashed into the man's face with all of his considerable strength. "_I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!_"

"_Kyvain!_" we yelled, now sprinting to catch up to him.

Kyvain - either not hearing or not listening - seized the man by the collar and threw him several feet. The man was immediately up again, bearing a bleeding nose. "_YEAH! COME ON AND GET WHAT'S COMING, YOU SOUL-REAPING PUNK! I'M GOING TO RIP YOUR FUCKING ARM OFF!_"

"_I HOPE YOU CAN!_" Kyvain roared back as the man charged him. Kyvain dodged the tackle and pushed him to the ground again. "_BECAUSE IF MY FUCKING ARM'S COMING OFF, IT'S GOING STRAIGHT UP YOUR ASS!_"

I had never heard Kyvain curse like that before that day. Somehow the sound of those words coming out of his mouth was scarier than Ichimaru's grin. A dozen times scarier.

"_KYVAIN!_" Yoruichi thundered. Neither man was listening.

I said, "Match, I think –"

But Pyro had already drawn his pistol and was aiming a bright blue barrel at the two combatants.

"Don't Pyro! You could kill them!" I shouted.

"No," he answered soothingly then added, "They're moving too fast for me to get a good shot."

The man got in a punch and another then to everyone's surprise, Kyvain was the one on the ground. The man pinned Kyvain's arms behind him and said, "_Say it! Say it!_"

Kyvain exploded, mouth full of dirt, "_SAY WHAT? YOU DIDN'T TELL ME TO SAY ANYTHING!_"

The man hissed, "_Say 'my girlfriend wears men's underwear and I'm wearing a thong!'_"

"What do I say?" Kyvain asked innocently.

"_MY GIRLFRIEND WEARS MEN'S UNDERWEAR AND RIGHT NOW I AM WEARING A PINK THONG!_"

The look on the man's face when he realized what happened, said it all -_Did I just say that out loud?_

The crowd began to roar with laughter as the man's face turned deep red. "_THAT'S IT! NOW I'M GOING TO _– " Suddenly his attention seemed to be diverted by something. Still just barely holding Kyvain down, he looked at the nearest person and asked urgently, "Hey, what time is it?"

"Nine o' clock."

"_NINE?_" The man was immediately on his feet and sprinting down the road, calling, "_Bonnie! BONNIE!_"

Out of nowhere a very large boar with a pink bow on its head and rope looped around its neck trotted into view, snorting.

"_Bonnie!_" the man greeted it, hugging the filthy creature's neck. "Thank goodness! We've got to go!"

Yoruichi glanced up at Pyro, who had gotten an evil smile on his face. "Pyro, _don't_."

"Oh, come on! It's an easy shot!"

"_I said no._" Yoruichi said firmly. Pyro reluctantly lowered his pistol, looking slightly dejected.

"_HEY!_" Kyvain shouted, leaping to his feet with his typical agility. "I'm not finished with you yet! Are you running away from your own fight?"

"Of course not!" the man scoffed, leaping onto the back of the boar called Bonnie. He made it look as natural as riding a **unicycle**. "You meet me back here tomorrow to settle this, or may you forever be known as The Cowardly Soul Reaper From the Rukon District Who Ran Away From A Fight He Couldn't Possibly Win!"

"That title is ridiculous!"

"_Your face is ridiculous!_"

"_Your mom is ridiculous!_"

"_THAT'S NOT WHAT YOUR GIRLFRIEND SAYS!_" Kyvain lunged toward him with intent to kill. The man reacted just in time, kicking the boar in the sides, yelling,"_HI-HO, BONNIE! AWAY, AWAY!_"

The boar _reared_, and then charged past Kyvain at an impossible pace, heading out of town. "_TOMORROW, SOUL REAPER! WE'LL SETTLE THIS TOMORROW!_"

As Kyvain chased after him for a few steps, I turned to Kita and said, "In the last two hours, we've met a giant talking monkey that cries when his axes are broken, a creepy smiling captain that can cut your hand off as soon as look at you, and a guy wearing poofy pants that rides a boar named _Bonnie. _Is it just me or is everybody in Soul Society completely _insane_?"

"_Kyvain!_" Match called out mockingly to him, "What happened?"

"Shut up!" Kyvain muttered, rejoining us and covered in a fine layer of dust. There was a small cut on his cheek and he appeared distinctly irritated. "He caught me when I wasn't expecting it. I'll get him tomorrow."

"You'll do no such thing," Yoruichi snapped.

Kyvain exploded, "_He insulted –_"

Yoruichi overrode him. "_Grow up, Kyvain!_ We don't have time for this! Who's more important to you at this moment: Tegan and Rukia or some random guy on a boar?"

Kyvain twitched and bit his lip, "At this moment?"

Kita glared at him, and when she spoke her voice was dangerously close to a shout. "You've _got_ to be kidding me!"

Kyvain seemed genuinely perplexed by her response. "What? What did I say?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Kita stated, "but I agree with the _cat _on this one."

"_Thank you_," Yoruichi said gratefully. After a pause, the cat added, "I think." Looking straight at Kyvain, Yoruichi asserted, "We need to go see Kukaku. We will _not _be here this time tomorrow if we're serious about getting into the Seireitei. Is everyone in agreement on this?"

We all nodded, except Kyvain, who grunted.

"Forget him. He's of no importance, though I will say if _that guy _managed to bring you to the ground so easily, I'd hate to see how you'd fare against the Soul Reapers." The yellow eyes blinked. "Ichimaru would break you, body and soul, without breaking a sweat."

"No," Kyvain asserted coldly.

"_Kenpachi would swat you like a fly and Yamamoto wouldn't have to lift a finger."_

"_Why are you telling me this?_" Kyvain cried. I had to agree; there was no point in telling an idiot he'd never win a game of chess. Kyvain took a breath and closed his eyes for a moment.

When he opened them, he was calmer. "I know I'm not as strong as I need to be in order to overcome these people but I will be. Just tell me what I need to do."

"First," Yoruichi said, "you need to learn to defeat the likes of pig boy without even thinking about it."

Pyro added in a deep, wise voice, "Challenge him, you must."

"_Pyro!_" Yoruichi hissed. Again, Pyro put on his famous clubbed baby seal expression.

Yoruichi looked at all of us, one at a time. "From now on, there will be three simple rules that you will follow if you want my assistance. You will not argue with each other, you will not fight pig-riding morons, you will not do _anything _stupid, and you will not question me."

Match pointed out. "That's four rules."

Yoruichi swiped her paw at Match's leg, sinking in her claws just to the point where it would not draw blood but deeply enough to make Match yelp and hop away.

"_What did I just say?_ _You DO NOT question me!_"

"Yes, sensei," we said together numbly.

Yoruichi stared at us, as though making sure no one objected to a new alpha being in charge. "Now that we understand each other, we will find Kukaku."

As Yoruichi walked ahead of us, Match looked at me and muttered lowly, "I think I just found the one and only cat I would shove into a microwave."


	4. Three

Fourteen days. Only fourteen days were left before this endless life would come abruptly to an end.

Fourteen days apparently meant a change of scenery. She was escorted from the square cell of which she was accompanied by four masked men then was shortly joined by Renji. They had placed on her a kind of collar around her neck from which four ropes protruded and the ropes were connected to separate pikes held by the men. Her hands were tied behind her back by a rope that stretched from her collar. It was in this manner that she was led to the infamous white tower that could be seen from everywhere within the Seireitei.

The Shrine of Penitence.

The circular tower was essentially hollow on the inside, save for a single staircase that wound steadily upward along the walls. At regular intervals it would pause and form a landing. In the walls, next to these landing were tall but narrow windows that weren't barred. Instead, they were so thin that even someone like Rukia could not slip through. These openings provided the only light in the tower.

As the ropes held by the guards were disconnected and the rope binding her hands returned to its place in the collar, she was told in no uncertain terms that this place was specifically designed for those sentenced to death to repent for their sins. Through every window, one could see a wooden structure as tall as a skyscraper built with two parallel beams pointing straight up and a third beam connecting them at the top. It was so simple in design, the Sogyoku. For the rest of her life, she would stare her death in the face.

She had yet to look directly at Renji, the lieutenant who had escorted her here. The lieutenant had retrieved her from the Human World but only after one of her dearest friends.

Renji was fiery in appearance and demeanor. His tall, muscular body sported intricate black tattoos almost everywhere skin showed, including his neck and the part of his forehead not covered by a white headband. As usual, he wore the standard Shinigami black robe and his zanpakuto on his belt. Intelligence showed in his brown eyes, though at this point nothing else to hint at his feelings or personality could be drawn from his angular face. The thing most people noticed first about Renji was his bright red hair that was normally kept in a long ponytail; even tied back his hair still managed to stick out in all directions, giving his hair the appearance of a pineapple.

Rukia recalled when Renji was close enough to be her brother but that was a very long time ago. Now, he cared no more about her than Byakuya.

Renji had already told her the purpose of the Shrine of Penitence and it was time for them to leave her in peace. This, she waited for patiently as the guards marched toward the door. Renji, however, hesitated.

One of the guards looked back and questioned, "Lieutenant?"

It seemed Renji had been thinking and now he had decided upon something.

"Wait a minute."

Rukia was standing with her back to him and the guards, staring at the Sogyoku through the nearest window. She heard Renji walk up behind her and then felt him place his hand on her shoulder as he whispered lowly in her ear, "This is unconfirmed, mind you, but a group of Ryoka have entered Soul Society and just yesterday attempted to enter the Seireitei through the West Gate. Their whereabouts are unknown." He paused, and then pushed forward. "One was an extremely short female Soul Reaper who wielded a dual zanpakuto. Others were with her and they supposedly tried to kill each other after arriving _before_ confronting Jidanbo."

From fear, relief, or fury, Rukia's heart nearly stopped. _Could it be…? Didn't I tell those idiots not to follow me here?_

Renji released Rukia's shoulder and followed the guards out the door. As they locked the tower behind them, Renji thought, _Her eyes were more alive than I've seen them since she came here. Are they here…for Rukia? _His eyes narrowed; pure hatred boiled from his heart at the thought of those people, especially the one who had embarrassed him in front of his captain. _They are the ones who got her in this spot to begin with! If not for them, Rukia and I would catching up as old friends should! Idiots! Worthless humans! What the hell makes them think they can come here after what they have done? Heaven help the one Zabimaru first cuts! _

Tegan woke from a pleasant dream about dragonflies to a reality of fiery hell.

Or so it seemed like to her. Her left leg had literally woken her from her sleep - the leg Jidanbo's axe had grazed before Gemini finally decided to show up.

She gritted her teeth and hissed with pain as she shifted, attempting to figure out some way to look at her leg but stopped again when her muscles screamed in protest. _Why is the rest of me in so much pain?_

_Oh yeah. I wore my entire body out yesterday between running through the crazy tunnel, fighting monkey boy, and hiding from Captain Smiley and his company. _

_And because I apparently fell asleep on somebody's roof._

It was true. The only thing she could see was row after row of red shingles. She vaguely remembered climbing up here after coming dangerously close to being spotted by a group of Shinigami walking through the streets.

Tegan couldn't recall falling asleep, though. The sun was still below the horizon in the east but the sky was getting a faint promising glow of pink. Tegan finally turned her body around so that she could look at her leg and to her dismay, the area around the wound had begun to get a puffy and swollen appearance. She lay back, groaning. _Now what?_

All she knew was that she was sore, tired, ravenous, and her leg seemed to be infected. That and she really, really had to pee.

_Stupid dragonfly._

She attempted to get more comfortable by shifting her position when suddenly the roof fell out from under her.

_No…_ she thought numbly on the way down. _I fell off the roof. _Tegan then remembered to scream.

Something broke her fall, collapsing quietly beneath her before she rolled off and struck pavement. Tegan cried out in renewed pain then lied still on her back, seething in pain, anger, and humiliation. By the time she thought to look to see what she had earlier fallen on top of, someone was already offering her his hand. Tegan looked up at him, frozen.

She was facing a tall, pale man - thin to the point of being frail. His face was drawn. His hair was long and straight, white, and came down almost to his waist. His eyebrows, by contrast, were thick and dark. He wore a black robe and his zanpakuto beneath a long white jacket. His green eyes, however, sparkled with life, and a playful smile twitched his lips at the sight of Tegan.

"Hello, there. Can I give you a hand?" His tone was genuinely friendly and helpful, which surprised her. However, Tegan accepted his hand and slowly got to her feet. "Do you usually make an entrance like that?"

Tegan felt herself flush with embarrassment. "No! I just kind of…fell…"

The man was still smiling. "You kind of fell on me."

"What?" Looking around her and seeing nothing else she could have possibly fall on, Tegan continued apologetically, "I am _so _sorry, I didn't mean to-"

The man waved her apologies away. "I know you didn't do it on purpose. Besides, that's the most interesting thing that's happened to me all week…I'm guessing your superiors don't know you're here?"

"Not at all," Tegan answered truthfully. _Dad thinks I'm at summer camp right now._

The man's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "I don't believe I've seen you around here before and you've yet to refer to me as Captain."

Before she could think about what she was saying, Tegan burst out, "You're a captain?"

The man smiled again, obviously very amused by this. "That depends on who you ask. Between you and me, there are some who believe I'm not around enough to be captain of anything…I suppose that may be why you didn't recognize me right away. I am Captain Ukitake of the Thirteenth Squad." He paused expectantly, staring at her.

"Oh, yeah, I've heard of you," Tegan said weakly. When Ukitake still didn't say anything, she continued slowly, "Umm…my name is Tegan Shade."

"Tegan, huh? Are you new?"

Tegan leaped at the chance. "Yeah, I'm new. I'm kind of lost…"

"If you're lost, I could take you back to your squad headquarters. Which squad are you with?"

_Shit! _"Uh…Squad Eight."

Ukitake's face brightened at the sound of that. "Shunsui's lot, huh? What's it like having him for a captain?"

"Well…" _Say something! _"He, uh, likes to get up at the crack of dawn most days and has everyone in his squad do the same. He's very strict but he's fair."

Ukitake nodded thoughtfully. "How's his wife? I heard somewhere she's having a rough time."

"Uh…the captain hasn't mentioned his wife but I heard from other members of my squad that she's doing better –"

Ukitake's smile faded. That was when Tegan knew she should have just run away rather than continue to have a conversation with this guy.

"The closest thing Shunsui has to a wife is Nanao - his lieutenant. She sure nags him enough, at the very least, but they're not married. I also happen to know Shunsui prefers rising at the crack of noon and he isn't strict with anyone, least of all himself."

Tegan began searching for possible escape routes. _This guy doesn't look very strong, maybe I could take him - or at least outrun him. _

"Is your name really Tegan Shade?" His eyes were burning her as their gaze searched for the truth.

The question made her flinch internally. "Yes."

"Are you a Ryoka?"

"I…" _Should I dig myself in deeper? Is there any way NOT to?_ "I don't know what a Rio –" She stumbled over the unfamiliar word and amended lamely, "I don't know what that thing is."

"Are you from the Human World, come here before your time?" Ukitake's voice was stern.

Tegan then put to action some choice evasive maneuvers – that is, she turned around and began to flash step away. Ukitake watched her go, shaking his head. "Poor Ryoka. She seems to be frightened."

He noted something on the ground – red liquid, a sight he knew too well. The makeshift bandage Tegan had wrapped around her leg was coming undone, and as she ran her limp became more and more pronounced. Beside the splash of blood, a green and white hat lay on its side, carelessly blown off. Ukitake plucked it off the ground and examined it with interest.

Ukitake then suddenly appeared beside Tegan, causing her to yelp and try to leap to the side, at which point she of course stumbled and fell. Tegan sat there panting, as Ukitake crouched beside her, still looking at the hat. "Why are you in the Seireitei, Tegan Shade?"

"I was following a dragonfly," Tegan grumbled.

Ukitake chuckled good-naturedly and lowered the hat. "Okay…"

Tegan was expecting fury or even disgust in those eyes but instead she saw only intense curiosity.

"Perhaps I should be more specific. I'm asking why you came to Soul Society in the first place. This is not where you or your friends belong. And yes, I know you have minions." A smile flickered on his face again.

Tegan decided to take a chance. "We're here to save Rukia."

The smile faded as his face became thoughtful. "Rukia Kuchiki? Hmm… How long have you known her?"

"A few months."

"A few months?" Ukitake repeated, spinning the hat in his fingers. Tegan suddenly wished he would give the hat back to her because its constant movement was making her nervous.

"Is a few months long enough to create a friendship strong enough to draw all of you to another world against an army of hundreds with captains powerful beyond imagining?"

"I sure hope so," Tegan answered, "because it was a lot of trouble to get here."

Ukitake chuckled again. "Oh, no, child. You haven't known trouble yet. You have no _idea_."

"I think," Tegan responded, "as long as we avoid Rukia's brother, we'll be okay."

"Byakuya? He's strong, yes, but he's not all you need to worry about. There are at least twelve others strong enough to contend with him, myself included."

Tegan countered heatedly, "We're already here. I see no point in going back empty-handed."

"Are you willing to die for Rukia Kuchiki's sake?" Ukitake asked seriously.

"If it comes down to that…" Tegan paused then said slowly, "If it comes down to that then yes. But it won't happen."

"You seem confident."

"I am. Even if I don't make it, I know of at least five others who can."

Ukitake stared her up, as though sizing her up. Seeming to reach a conclusion, he said, "I'll make you a deal, Tegan Shade. I'll have Squad Four treat that wound for you, it shouldn't take too long. Then I'll escort you out of the Seireitei at my leisure instead of arresting you. In exchange…you'll let me keep this hat."

Tegan could not stop the smile from spreading across her face. "You're willing to help me escape just so you can keep that hat?"

"It's a nice hat." He spun it onto his head and pulled the brim down over his eyes. "You see? It's a perfect fit. But this," he tapped the brim, "is more than just a hat."

"It's an _awesome_ hat," Tegan countered.

"It is that too. But this hat is also a promise because I won't keep it forever." Ukitake shrugged. "I just don't have the right pair of shoes to go with it…maybe some nice clogs…but that's not the point. I expect you to take this hat from me – after you rescue Rukia Kuchiki."

Tegan stared at him, stunned. "Are you Rukia's friend?"

Ukitake answered calmly, "I am her captain. If this execution was justice, it would not be a sufficient enough reason to rescue her but this execution is _not_ justice. The punishment does not fit the crime and honestly, something very foul has been in the air as of late. I can't shake this feeling that allowing this execution to happen would be a very, _very _wrong thing to do. So I'm keeping this hat until you come back."

"Are you going to try to save her, as well?"

Ukitake sighed. "I'm just a sick old man, Tegan. I need all the help I can get. Okay?" He offered Tegan his hand.

Tegan considered for a moment, and then took it, allowing Ukitake to haul her to her feet once again. "Deal. By the way…that's not my hat."

"Can I be honest with you, Ryoka?" Ukitake began to lead her deeper into the Seireitei using slow measured steps. He smiled as he answered, "I don't really care."

Pyro spoke abruptly, "This Kukaku guy…does anybody know who he is?"

The six of us were walking through the open country of Soul Society, which consisted of rolling green fields dotted with the occasional clump of trees. As far as I could see, there were no thorns, sandburs or anything else particularly nasty. In this respect, at least, Soul Society was an improvement over our home.

Yoruichi was walking a little ahead of the rest of us, so we were able to talk lowly amongst ourselves without the cat hearing.

"Yoruichi didn't tell you?" Kita said, sounding important. Everyone looked at her oddly. Kita paused a moment, looking around at all of us then shrugged. "Me neither."

"He's probably some old guy," Match speculated.

"With a moustache," Pyro added.

"I think he's a blonde elf," I declared.

"That's because you're a girl," Kyvain muttered.

"Well, what do you think he is?" I asked.

Kita offered her joking opinion, "I think he's a Prius."

"Powder blue?"

"Shut up, Syke."

Kyvain said, "Well, considering the fact that Yoruichi has yet to even say 'he' or 'she' when referring to this Kukaku, I'd have to say it's a girl."

Match waved away his response. "That's just silly."

"Who he is aside," I said, "Does anyone know where we're going?"

"I'm just kind of following the cat," Match said. Everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Does the cat know where we're going?" I pressed.

"Of course I do," Yoruichi called back, causing most of us to start. "And believe me; you'll recognize the place when you see it."

"Is it that obvious?" Pyro asked.

"Oh yes."

We had reached the top of a hill and from here we could see for a good distance in every direction. About a mile away we spied a good-sized house. The house itself was nice, but that's not what had caught our attention about it. On either side of the house were two massive stone arms reaching straight up toward the sky. The hands were each gripping the end of a giant neon sign.

KUKAKU SHIBA IS HERE!

Below that was a huge flashing arrow pointing straight down toward the house.

"Do you think this is the place?" Pyro asked sarcastically, shaking his head in slight disbelief.

Kita smirked, "Something tells me Tegan would get along with this guy."

A few minutes later, we were standing in front of the house. Out of nowhere, two extremely tall and muscular guys rushed up and stopped in front of us, arms folded across their massive chests. Other than a slight difference in color patterns with their clothes, the two guys were completely identical – bald head, thick black moustache, and dark eyes.

"Who are you?" Baldy Number One asked.

"Why are you here?" Baldy Number Two added.

"If I could answer that," I responded humbly, "I would be the wisest person in the world."

"Smart aleck!" one declared.

"Soul Reaper scum!" the other said.

"How dare you come to the house of Shiba –"

" – and waste our time with such petty nonsense?"

"_We're_ wasting _your _time?" Kyvain questioned, dark eyebrows furrowing.

Yoruichi stepped forward and waved a paw at them. "Hey! Down here!"

Their eyes found the cat and immediately they took a step back with embarrassed yet awed expressions. "Yoruichi!"

"We didn't realize it was you!"

"Of course you may come in! You and your friends!"

_There isn't going to be some creepy ax murderer behind that door, is there? _I thought, remembering the last time a giant man had offered us safe passage. They swung open a solid wooden door and bowed us through. Ichimaru wasn't there but there was a staircase leading straight down from the door without a landing in between. So we descended.

"I'm sorry I didn't send word that I was coming," Yoruichi apologized to the nearest twin.

"You are always welcome in this house, Yoruichi!" the twin answered, sounding genuinely happy to see the cat.

"There is nothing to apologize for," the other twin added.

The staircase ended and we walked down a long, narrow hallway. I was trying to figure out what was keeping this hallway lit when we finally stopped before a sliding door.


	5. Four

One twin slid open the door and we entered a large room that contained no furniture at all - only a polished wooden floor. On the far end, a blanket was thrown down and on the blanket sat Kukaku.

Kukaku had long black hair partially wrapped in bandages; some of it stuck out at odd angles and over one dark-colored eye. Kukaku's right arm was prosthetic but the left arm was still intact and covered in black tattoos. Youthful in appearance, Kukaku was wearing a red top, sandals, a sword, and a white skirt.

Kukaku was definitely a woman.

"Yoriuchi!" she greeted warmly, though did not rise. "It's been awhile!"

"That it has, old friend," Yoriuchi answered, a smile touching the fuzzy face. "How is the family?"

Kukaku shrugged. "Getting into trouble."

"As usual."

Kukaku grinned. "That's the Shiba way." She nodded toward us. "Who are these kids with you?"

Yoriuchi introduced us in turn. "This is Pyro, Kyvain, Match, Syke, and Kita – the Ryoka that broke into Soul Society yesterday."

"Oh?" I could see Kukaku perk up at the sound of the words "broke into".

"I need a favor, Kukaku."

Kukaku inclined her head, examining the group of us.

"Is it just me or is it every time we meet, you want something from me?" Yoriuchi, waited, saying nothing.

Kukaku tapped her fingers and asked casually, "What you're doing…is it dangerous?"

"Extremely."

"Will there be casualties?"

"Almost certainly. According to the plan we have now, we'll be facing the wrath of all thirteen court guard squads with only the seven us."

"Seven?" I saw Kukaku do a quick head count. "There are only six."

"Seven," Yoriuchi affirmed, "counting a certain Soul Reaper who chased a dragonfly into enemy territory."

Kukaku chuckled at this. "Yoriuchi, what kind of operation are you running here?"

Yoriuchi gestured at us with a paw. "_You _try accomplishing anything with this bunch! You know what I'm working with? A trigger-happy nutcase –"

"That's you, sis," Pyro whispered to Match.

"– his violent sister – "

"No, _that's _me," Match countered.

"– a girl with summoning powers that curses like a sailor –"

"_Hey!_ My summons can kick your ass!" Kita declared proudly.

"– a Shinigami energizer bunny that smiles more than Ichimaru –"

"I don't smile _that_ much!" Kyvain objected.

"– and a smartass with a lot of anger issues."

"_Hey! I'm right here!_" I objected loudly.

Kukaku smirked at all of us. "Sounds like you have your paws full - both with your team and this incredibly dangerous mission. Luckily for you, old friend, I happen to enjoy danger. I can't help you in controlling this bunch but I _can _get all of you there in one piece."

Yoriuchi nodding towards her, saying gratefully, "Thank you for that much, at least."

Kukaku continued thoughtfully, "But you'll need someone to help you break into the Seireitei and if that person can help you keep these teenagers under control, so much the better."

She stood and began striding across the room to a door different to the one we came in. "I'm sending my little brother with you. He's a pain in the ass but hopefully he'll get the job done." She slid open the door.

Behind it was a man on his knees, bowing so low his forehead was pressed firmly against the floor.

Kukaku snapped at him, "Ganju! Get up, you idiot! We have company!"

The man obediently leaped to his feet and called out, "Hello! My name is Ganj–"

Ganju's greeting was cut off when his eyes locked with Kyvain's. There was a moment of deathly silence as the expressions of both men darkened significantly until Kyvain and Ganju screamed simultaneously, "YOU!"

"Hey!" Kita pointed at Ganju. "It's pig boy!"

Ganju, formerly known as Pig Boy, charged across the room at Kyvain, who seized Ganju when he came close and threw him down. Kyvain tried to kick Ganju back down before he could rise again but Ganju was already rolling to his feet. Ganju swung - Kyvain blocked with a forearm and hit him hard in the gut. Ganju doubled over in pain and Kyvain took the opportunity to punch him in the face. As Ganju struck the floor, Kyvain was prevented from leaping on top of him by a bright blue arrow shooting past his face. The projectile exploded against the opposite wall. Kyvain turned slowly to look back at the rest of us.

Match's bow was drawn, having just loosed the arrow of light. "Kyvain! Stop it!"

"He started it!" Kyvain shouted back, pointing where Ganju had collapsed. "He attacked me!"

"I don't care!" Match thundered. "Right now, I'm sympathizing more with him!"

"Why?"

"Because you're being an idiot!"

"You tell him!" Pyro encouraged her and received a slap to the back of his head from Kita for the words.

"Shut up, Pyro!" she shouted.

"Kyvain!" I shouted, pointing. "Behind you!"

Kyvain almost got the opportunity to turn around. Almost. But before he could, Ganju had thrown the blanket Kukaku had been sitting on over Kyvain's entire body and then lowered his shoulder and tackled Kyvain. As Kyvain thrashed around beneath the blanket, Ganju straddled him and began punching him again and again. "Take that! And this!"

"ARRRGGHHHH!" The amorphous form beneath the blanket suddenly knocked Ganju off his perch. Ganju rolled to his feet and Kyvain tore free of the blanket and stood, murder in his eyes.

Ganju narrowed his eyes at Kyvain. "Soul Reaper scum."

"Poufy pants," Kyvain countered heatedly before swinging at Ganju. Ganju ducked the blow and flew at Kyvain, who managed to partially halt his momentum at the last second so that neither man fell over. Kyvain attempted to push Ganju back but Ganju resisted with everything he had. Grappling, the two men pushed and pulled each other from wall to wall - to the floor - in every direction. Kyvain swung again at Ganju and when Ganju ducked, Kyvain's fist blasted a hole through the wall where Ganju's head had been only moments before. A few seconds later, Ganju's foot left a similar hole in the floor where Kyvain had been lying. They took out the door that we had entered through when Ganju threw Kyvain into it, causing it to collapse beneath him.

The twins, who had been waiting outside that door the entire time, did not even glance at Kyvain as he rose, roared something at Ganju, and charged him again. Kukaku also did not visibly react to any of this, save by lighting a pipe she produced shortly after the brawl began. Apparently she was used to violence in her house.

"Should we do something?" Kita asked as Ganju went sailing past us.

"Well," I answered slowly, doing the calculations in my head, "whatever happens, there's no way this can end well. I say let's not get involved."

As a loud _crash _was heard from the other side of the room, Kita said, "I _know _this can't end well. This whole fight is so stupid that if I got involved, the shit will get rubbed off on me – but there has to be a line somewhere, right?"

"True. Where is the line?"

Kita shrugged. "Wherever we want it to be, I guess."

"The line," Match said, shaking her head, "was when those two first saw each other."

"So at this point, we're pretty much fucked," Kita summarized.

"Basically," Match agreed.

"_Boys_," I muttered.

Kita and Match nodded in agreement, "Boys."

Pyro grinned.

We were wrong about one thing - the line was not where Kyvain Urahara and Ganju Shiba first saw each other.

Somehow, Ganju managed to throw Kyvain. Kyvain, flinging out his arm to protect himself while falling, somehow managed to swat Kukaku's pipe out of her hand and sent it clattering to the floor. Kukaku tensed at this but otherwise did not react. Kyvain hit the ground and rolled to his feet, ready for Ganju's charge.

There was an awful _crunch_.

Yoriuchi, Kita, Pyro, Match, Kukaku and I simultaneously looked at the ground where Ganju had just stepped while Kyvain and Ganju, heedless, continued their battle with increased intensity. Kukaku stared blackly at the shattered fragments of her pipe.

"I knew someone was going to get hurt," I muttered, only half-joking - never suspecting what would happen next.

Roaring, Kukaku slammed her fist into the ground, sending out a shockwave that knocked everyone present to the floor. The walls buckled slightly and only just managed to stay intact.

Unknown to us at the time, the two massive stone arms outside fell to the ground, shattering the neon sign.

"_IDIOTS!_" She kicked Ganju in the gut, sending him flying across the room. "_SIMPLETONS!_"

Kyvain saw the blow coming and raised his arms to block whatever she was about to do but Kukaku abruptly seized him by the hair, dragged him to his feet, and punched him in the gut. She punched him again and again to punctuate each word of, "_YOU – FUCKING – DESTROYED – MY –BEAUTIFUL – HOUSE – YOU – FUCKING – SHINIGAMI – JACKASS!_"

Through punching him, she tossed Kyvain like a rag doll, who collided with Ganju, knocking them both down. "_WHAT SORT OF HOUSE GUEST ARE YOU, ASSHOLE? JUST LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE! WE'LL HAVE TO MOVE AGAIN BECAUSE OF YOU!_"

Match began to protest, "_You're _the one who destroyed –"

"Match," I said suddenly, cutting her off, "I have to ask you as a friend - do you have a death wish?"

Meanwhile, Kukaku was still ranting. "_GANJU, YOU FUCKING USELESS PIECE OF SHIT! YES, I CALLED YOU A PIECE OF SHIT! DO YOU KNOW WHY I CALLED YOU A PIECE OF SHIT? BECAUSE TO JUST CALL YOU SHIT WOULD BE A STEP UP FOR YOU! WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING DESTROYING OUR HOUSE AGAIN? THIS IS WORSE THEN THAT TIME YOU BROUGHT THAT GIRL HOME –_"

"_Sister, please!_" Ganju had suddenly gone very red.

"- _AND I FOUND YOU TWO INSIDE THE CANON AFTER YOU DESTROYED ALL THE FUCKING ROOMS! YOU KNOW I STILL HAVE NIGHTMARES ABOUT THAT? I SHOULD TAKE ONE OF THE STONE ARMS AND SHOVE IT STRAIGHT UP YOUR ASS SO I CAN POP YOUR HEAD LIKE A ZIT!_"

Kyvain said tentatively, "Kukaku, I –"

"_SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! I'M THROUGH DEALING WITH YOU TWO!_" Both men winced while cowering together in the corner. Kukaku turned away, shaking her head as she muttered furiously, "_Honestly_, those two should just get a room instead of destroying all of mine!"

"What are you _talking _about?" Kyvain asked, confusion furrowing his brow. Ganju only turned a deeper shade of red from embarrassment and fury.

Yoriuchi's tail was twitching. "I apologize for Kyvain's behavior, Kukaku."

Kukaku waved the apology away. "Never mind, never mind." Suddenly a very mischievous smile was fixed on her face again, as though she had completely forgotten her broken pipe and the two men she had reduced to frightened children. "Would you all like to see my toy?"

We entered a large circular room dominated by a massive pipe reaching vertically upward. The room's ceiling appeared nonexistent and the pipe itself seemed to be endless. As far as width is concerned, six of us standing with arms stretched out to either side and the fingertips barely touching those of the person next to us might have equaled the width. Might. Other than its sheer size, there seemed to be nothing special about it. It was just old and gray. I looked up and recognized it to be the "chimney" we had seen from outside the house. I wondered what we were staring at and if I was supposed to be impressed by it.

Kukaku walked up to the pipe and rapped her knuckles against it, creating a modest echo. "_This _is how you're getting into the Seireitei."

Kita looked at it and questioned, "Is there a helicopter inside this?"

"It's a canon." Kukaku smiled broadly. "I'm a fireworks expert, you see."

Kita blinked slowly. "What?"

"YO!" Kukaku hollered upward suddenly, cupping her hand to amplify the shout. "CRANK IT UP!"

We heard the twins begin to shout indecipherable words to each other over and over again in a steady rhythm. At first we simply looked at each other, wondering why Kukaku was just standing there with a smug look on her face. And then the floor nearly bucked us off our feet. The wood beneath us and the canon beside us began to vibrate violently enough to make us lose our balance. After a moment, I realized, _We're moving up! _

And indeed we were. The halo of light around the far end of the canon grew steadily larger and brighter with each passing second. It was at this point that Pyro began to hum elevator music.

Once the floor had finally stopped moving, it was level with the roof of the Shiba house. How the roof was still intact, I had no idea. The twins, I saw, had been turning a crank located near where we emerged. _Did they just muscle this thing fifty feet upwards? _I respected those guys a little more in that moment. Piercing the sky and newly free of the cap that smothered it, the canon towered overhead.

"Holy shit," Kita remarked.

"You were serious," Match said in awe.

Kukaku frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I have a question," Kita said promptly. "Are we really going to be shot out of that?"

Kukaku nodded, looking pleased with herself. Ganju snickered, "Duh, stupid."

Kita's eyes flashed. "_Ulla! I rej –_"

"_Kita!_" Yoriuchi's warning was the only thing that saved Ganju from getting torn in half by a blood-thirsty wolf. Ganju smirked again at her, to which Kita narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. I could tell she sorely wished Ganju's neck was gripped between them.

I spoke hurriedly, "I have another question. What is going to prevent us from being blown to bits?"

"_This._" Apparently she had been expecting that question, because from out of nowhere she produced a bowling ball-sized, silver metal sphere that had a strange symbol stamped into it.

"It's an invention of mine," she continued proudly. "Whoever pours their spiritual energy into this will be instantly turned into a living cannonball!"

Match, along with everyone else, stared at it. "Are you kidding?"

"Try it!" she encouraged, tossing it in our general direction.

I caught it. It was heavy but I had thought it would be heavier. Realizing everyone was waiting expectantly for me to do something, I said, "Ummm… what do I do?"

"Pour your spiritual energy into it," Kukaku repeated, as though that explained everything.

"How do I do that?"

Kukaku frowned. "You mean you don't know how to channel your spiritual energy?" She looked to Yoriuchi for answers.

Yoriuchi shrugged as best as a cat can. "Sorry but we had a limited amount of time to train this bunch. I'm afraid we never got around to Kido."

Kukaku seemed irritated by this, as though we were being idiotic on purpose. "Ganju! Show them how it's done." Ganju moved to take the ball from me.

"_NO!_" Kyvain shouted, seizing the ball from me and retreating backward a few steps while holding the thing like it was his only child. "I'll figure it out on my own!" Kyvain then held the ball at arm's length, staring at it. His arms began to shake and he made funny noises in his throat.

"Kyvain, just give him the ball," I ordered him.

He shook his head firmly while still glaring at the ball.

"Why not?"

"He's pudgy!"

Ganju raised an eyebrow. "Maybe that's why your mom wouldn't leave me alone last night."

"_Ganju, not that annoying shit again!_" Kukaku snapped as she ripped off one of her sandals and threw it at him.

"_Kyvain_, you're acting like a child!" Yoriuchi snarled.

Pyro had snuck up behind Kyvain and without warning he seized the ball. "Catch!" he yelled, tossing the ball to Ganju before Kyvain could grab it back. Ganju placed his hands on either side of the ball, and without any apparent effort on his part the symbol on the ball glowed blue. An instant later, a blue spherical force field large enough to encompass Ganju had manifested itself around him. Ganju smirked at Kyvain.

"You see?" Kukaku said, turning to all of us. "Nothing to it. I want you all to take this day to practice until you get it right, understand? And you two," she looked from Ganju to Kyvain, "no more fighting. Period."

_Ganju made it look so easy! _

This I thought bitterly as I gripped the strange ball in my hands hard enough to hurt, doing my best to concentrate on recreating that force field with my mind. A few times I had gotten close. Maddeningly close. Close enough to see a flash of blue light emanating from the ball but it disappeared as quickly as it came. It wasn't just Ganju that was making me feel foolish either - everyone else in our group, save the absent Yoriuchi, had accomplished the feat with varying speeds. Match and Pyro were the first to create force fields - I guessed this had something to do with their being Quincy. Kyvain had the advantage of possessing Urahara's blood and having years of his training and so got it soon after. Kita, like me, was mentally blocked for a while but she seemed to find the key all of a sudden and was soon creating the force fields rather easily.

Meanwhile, I had sweated and strained for hours over this stupid ball with no results.

Kukaku had come in two hours after our practice session began to say to all of us, "Show me."

Kita's force field was perfect and Kukaku said as much. Kita could not keep a small smile from her face.

Match offered hers next. "Yours is slightly flattened at the top and bottom," Kukaku pointed out, "but it will suffice." Match seemed a little put out at the slight criticism.

Kyvain was next. His field was perfectly spherical but the surface of it quivered like water during an earthquake.

"Work at controlling that energy a little better," Kukaku said. Kyvain nodded, obviously expecting her to say that.

For some reason, Pyro's was vertically long and narrow. When Kukaku pointed this out, he just shrugged and muttered something under his breath.

Kukaku turned to me. "And yours?"

"I can't do it," I answered helplessly. "Is there some trick to this I'm not getting, or…?"

Kukaku ignored my last statement. I could tell because she turned her back on me to say to the others, "Right, the rest of you can go have supper, I have plenty for everyone." She glanced at me and said, "You stay here until you get it. With or without you, they're leaving tomorrow morning." She marched out. Everyone else looked at me with varying shades of concern.

I waved them away with forced nonchalance. "You guys go ahead." Kita and Pyro hesitated, and then left the room. Match and Kyvain still stood there staring at me. "_Go_," I ordered more firmly. "I know you guys haven't eaten since lunch." It was already well after sundown.

"Neither have you!" Match protested.

Kyvain just shrugged at my statement. "It doesn't matter."

"Kyvain, Match –"

Kyvain quickly approached and stood in front of me. "I think of someone. It gives me power." I knew who he was talking about but I wasn't sure how that was supposed to help me.

Match tilted her head as she gave a puzzled look to Kyvain. "My brother and I weren't taught to do that."

"Well, that's how I do it," Kyvain asserted gently. He looked at me searchingly. "Do you have anyone…?"

"Maybe." That was the honest truth.

"Try it."

I closed my eyes to block him out for a second and tried to clear my head. After doing the best I can in this regard, I pictured my brother, my father, my sister…the ones I had to protect. I felt heat gathering around my heart, warming me from the inside almost pleasantly and I knew this was the power. I opened my eyes…

The symbol seemed to have grown a mouth and it was laughing at my futile efforts.

"_Fuck!_" I chucked the useless ball across the room, bouncing it off the wall.

Disappointment in his eyes, Kyvain looked at Match. "How do you and your brother do it?"

"I've thought about it and I realized it wouldn't work for Shinigami like you guys," Match answered. "We gather the Reishi from the world around us, kind of like the technique we use with our bow and gun."

During this exchange, I had lied down on my back and covered my eyes with my forearm while trying to keep myself from screaming in frustration. Unseen by me, Kyvain gestured to Match and then pointed down at me. Match grinned. Kyvain then knelt beside me and said in a low voice, "Are you done?"

"For now!" I growled. "You guys really should –"

"I don't think you understood what I was asking you," Kyvain cut me off in that annoying matter-of-fact voice.

I removed my forearm so I could glare up at him. He was looking down at me with a serious face but with laughter in his eyes. I sat up – and was promptly pushed back down again. "What the _hell?_"

"Are you done?" he asked again and this time he could not keep a small smile from creeping onto his face.

I tried to sit up and he pushed me back down with one hand. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?" _Like you're so innocent! _

"If you don't stop, I'm burning you!" I snarled.

"No you won't," he answered confidently.

"Syke, no Shikai," Match ordered. "Half of Kukaku's house has already fallen down today."

"_Then I could use a little help, Match!_"

Match said, "I would but I don't think that would be fair."

Kyvain looked from her to me and said, "Not fair to you."

Match laughed. "Oh _really? _You think you can take both of us on?"

Kyvain shrugged. "I've already told you I can take two girls. Actually I can take more than that but two's about all I can handle without hurting them."

Match stepped toward us, at which point Kyvain rose and retreated a few steps, thus allowing me to take Match's hand and be hauled to my feet.

"He thinks he can take two girls, huh?" she said skeptically. We exchanged mischievous grins before we turned our attention back to Kyvain, who was watching us both with interest but not fear.

I pointed out, "That's in a fist fight, Kyvain!"

Kyvain shook his head. "It doesn't matter. A fight is a fight and I can _still _take you both."

Match held out her right hand directly in front of her. A blue and white longbow suddenly manifested herself in her gloved grip. In her left hand she crafted a baseball-sized ball of glowing blue energy before she drew back on the bow's string, thus stretching the ball into an arrow. She looked down the arrow straight into Kyvain's eyes. "You're bluffing. You know I could shoot you."

"You can _try_," Kyvain answered smoothly.

"Alright." Match loosed the arrow, sending a beam of blue light straight toward him. I knew the moment it struck the wall that Match had missed. Kyvain appeared behind her in a flash, turned on his heel, and swept his leg under her feet, knocking her to the floor.

Meanwhile, I had drawn my zanpakuto and swung at him without pausing for breath. Kyvain drew his nearly instantaneously and blocked it before disappearing again and reappearing on the other side of the room. "_Spark, Hyperion!_" His zanpakuto melted in a flash of light, and when the glow subsided the sword was gone. In its place were twin gauntlets composed of black leather with blackened metal plating that extended almost to his elbows.

"_I said no Shikai!_" Match shouted, scrambling to her feet.

Kyvain smirked at me. "She knows you can't handle it."

I stared hard at him. On the one hand, we could completely tear down Kukaku's house and she would kill us both. On the other hand, he had _definitely _challenged me. "Sorry, Match," I told her.

"What do you mean?" Match cried.

My right hand held my zanpakuto at my side with its tip pointing forward. My left hand reached down and gently rested its fingers at the base of the blade where it met the hilt. "_Break free…_"

"_Syke!_" Match yelled.

I ignored her as I completed, "…_Andromeda._" As I said my zanpakuto's name, the fingers of my left hand began to glow red and I quickly but smoothly slid my left hand along the length of the blade. Down the center of the blade a line of unusual red flame was born and as my hand flung itself from the tip, a blast of cinders and ash blasted from the weapon directly at Kyvain.

Kyvain vanished once again. By the time his glowing fist swung at me, though, Andromeda had stopped him. "Too slow, Kyvain," I warned him, shoving his hand away and forcing him back. "I saw every step."

"So your zanpakuto makes you faster," Kyvain said, raising his fists. "That's good. Maybe you can keep up with me now." Kyvain suddenly vanished again as a beam of blue light shot straight through where he was once standing.

"_Nobody listens to me!_" Match shouted, firing again at Kyvain, who had reappeared near the door. Again, he evaded.

"Match, we should –" She turned suddenly and I only just leaped out of the way when the spot beneath my feet exploded in blue light. "_Match!_"

"_You didn't listen either!_"

"_Damn it, Match!_" I was forced to run as arrow after arrow rained down around me - deadly accurate. Seeing no other choice, I launched myself off the nearest wall, twisted in midair, and released a stream of flaming ashes from Andromeda's tip. Match disappeared faster than my eyes could follow and shot at me again from a safer distance. I hit the ground, rolled, and got back to my feet. That was pointless. In the next instant, I was forced to duck down again and a second later I was sprinting. The force of the next blast was enough to knock me off my feet and onto my back for a moment. Looking upward I exploded, "_WHAT THE HELL?_"

Match paused for a moment. "What?"

"_Kyvain's playing Spider-Man!_"

Sure enough, Kyvain had somehow braced himself between two walls and the ceiling and had been watching the fight from above.

"_Get down from there!_" Match yelled.

Kyvain shook his head.

"_You started it!_" I shouted. "_Now finish it!_"

Kyvain smiled as though I just told a very funny joke. I failed to see the humor.

A moment later, a blast of cinders and a blue arrow simultaneously struck where "Spider-Man" had been hanging from. In response, Kyvain had knocked me to the floor and had seized Match's wrists to twist them behind her back, forcing Match to double over to keep her arms from being injured. "_Ow!_ Stop it!"

"Are you done?" Kyvain questioned warily, not letting up.

After a moment of deliberation, Match cried, "_Yes! _I'm done! _I'm done!_"

Kyvain released her as I got to my feet. Match sullenly recalled the bow back into her glove and then Kyvain, apparently, saw the look on my face because he charged me. I swung Andromeda, the fire along the blade glowing brighter. With his open left palm, Kyvain stopped the swing abruptly; using his right palm, he slammed into my midsection and sent me flying backwards into the nearest wall, wrenching my zanpakuto from my grip in the process. Still holding my weapon, he stood tall and stared at me while I grabbed my abdomen in pain. _Damn, I think he killed my spleen! _

"Are _you _done, Syke?"

"You know it will never end," I muttered, wincing because it hurt to speak. _That's going to be the biggest bruise I've ever seen in my life. _The flame along Andromeda's blade died and left only the sealed zanpakuto behind.

Kyvain raised a skeptical eyebrow at me as he lay my sword down before me. "The _war's_ not going to end. But we both know every battle ends the same way." Seeming satisfied that I wasn't going to continue the fight, the gauntlets vanished in a flash of light and he sheathed his resealed zanpakuto.

"You're a jerk," I growled, plucking my zanpakuto from the floor and sheathing it.

"It'll hurt for a while but you're not injured," Kyvain said in what I supposed was a reassuring voice.

"_That's not what I meant._"

"I _know _I'm a jerk," Kyvain asserted, gesturing at himself. "It's just that nobody believes me when I tell them!"

"I'm sure most people find that out for themselves."

All three of us searched for the source of that voice and saw Ganju leaning against the doorway, arms folded across his chest. _How long has he been standing there? _"Now get out of here, asshole. I want to practice too."

"You've already practiced for two hours with the rest of us!" Match said immediately.

"Oh really? Glad to know Quincy's can tell time," Ganju answered sarcastically.

Kyvain scoffed, "Racist."

"No, not racist," Ganju corrected. "If I was being racist, I'd call her a Mexican instead."

"Hey!"


	6. Five

"You guys need to go eat," I said again, gesturing for the door. "I'll be fine, really." This time when I said it, I meant it. Kyvain measured me with his eyes for a second then nodded and waved for Match to follow him out the door.

Match hesitated a moment longer to ask, "Are you sure? I could bring you something…"

"I can hear your stomach growling from here, Match," I told her jokingly. "I'll be okay. I promise."

Kyvain tugged on her wrist insistently as he fiercely whispered, "_Food!_" Match smiled at his antics and they left, leaving Ganju and I alone together in a room for the first time.

Not knowing what to say or if I should even say anything, I plucked the ball from the ground and for the hundredth time focused on getting that ball to glow. I thought of my family again half-heartedly but all that brought me was the faint flicker of a light bulb close to death. Before I knew it, I was sweating again. I felt Ganju's eyes on me but pretended not to notice. Judging by what I had seen, I decided Ganju would pick a fight with any Soul Reaper he came across and because I had a zanpakuto that made me a target so I decided not to verbally acknowledge my failure. The man would probably say something about my mom as soon as I showed a sign of life. Battling Kyvain and Match was one thing but a complete stranger…

"What were you guys fighting about anyway?" His voice was gruff but not hateful yet.

For a moment, I thought that question was not even worth responding to but then I remembered how it must have looked to someone on the outside. _How do I explain this? _I answered slowly after a moment, "Kyvain…I know he likes to act like he's a jerk sometimes but he's not."

"Bullshit." Again, no abhorrence, but the statement was firm.

I turned to face him, the sphere gripped tightly in my hands. My voice quietly asserted, "If you hadn't provoked him from the second you guys met, he would be your friend right now."

Ganju scoffed, "You don't know that."

"I do," I murmured, "because I know that's the kind of person Kyvain is. He doesn't hate. I will admit there's a chance he wouldn't have liked you anyway but honestly he wouldn't try to hurt you the moment he saw you either - not unless you attacked him first. The man has nothing to prove to _anyone_ – least of all to you, a perfect stranger – but he'll fight tooth and nail to defend other people. Then _you_ had to go and remind him of Tegan."

Ganju raised an eyebrow. "Tegan?"

"Our friend, jackass!"

There was a quiet pause before…

"I insulted his girlfriend."

I sighed, wondering how to explain this. "Tegan and him went out before. Now that she's missing everyone's nerves are on edge and your comment made him snap. Congratulations. You insulted a real person, who happens to be my sister. If you had spoken to me instead, I probably would have punched you too."

Ganju stared at me blankly and said carelessly, "Whatever. I just think you're saying one thing about Kyvain while he's doing another. If he had nothing to prove, he wouldn't fight at all. Besides that, I'd expect such reckless behavior from a Soul Reaper but not from a Quincy."

"That _Quincy _is one of my best friends. I'd be worried if she _didn't_ try to kill me on a daily basis." I squeezed the ball between my hands and went on, "As for your first question, what I was trying to say is that Match and Kyvain saw that I was…upset, I guess…and they helped me by distracting me for a little bit. That's what they do. We're family - I'd have helped both of them if they were in the same spot."

Ganju snorted. "Name one family that tries to kill each other whenever they meet."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Have you _seen _yourself with Kukaku?"

Ganju glanced at the floor. "Good point."

After the silence lengthened long enough for me to try the ball again and fail, Ganju asked suddenly, "This Soul Reaper lady…why are you going after her? Did she offer you money? Are you going for the challenge? Oh! If she is the captured princess - are you her Prince Charming?"

"Nope, no, and _hell _no," I replied curtly.

"Then why are you trying to rescue her?"

I paused, wondering how best to put this. "She's the one who gave me my power in the first place. The power to become a stronger person, to be someone who can defend herself and protect others from darkness. I must use this ability to repay her. I've got to save her life like she saved mine that night. I can't turn my back on her, not when she's stuck by me through everything else."

Ganju gazed at me. I wasn't sure but I thought I saw that his eyes were less fierce then they were when he came in. Abruptly, he took the ball away from me.

"Hey! I'm not done –"

"I want to practice too and you take too long!" He turned his back on me as he announced loudly, "I'm going to use my super-special Kido-using technique, so you better not listen to a word I say! I'm warning you!" He paused dramatically, and I was very tempted to kick him in the butt before I remembered that was something Tegan would do. _Tegan, where the hell are you when the perfect opportunity has presented itself? _Ganju continued so loudly all of Japan must have heard, "First, I draw a circle in my mind as heavy and dark as possible!"

I watched, amazed, as the ball in his hands began to glow with supernatural blue light.

"Second, I dive straight into the circle!"

Just like that, the circular force field had enveloped Ganju once again. After a moment the field faded away and Ganju tossed the sphere back over his shoulder for me to catch. He yawned. "That was so easy a caveman could do it." Ganju then did a forced casual walk out of the door.

I tossed the ball up in the air and caught it, thinking to myself, _What an ass. If he thinks I'm taking his advice – _That was when a picture flashed in my mind - Kyvain seizing the ball from me while screaming, "_NOOOOOoooooooooo!_"

_No, _I decided abruptly. _I'm not like Kyvain. I'm not a world-class fudge face._

For the third time that night, the entire Shiba house threatened to collapse in on itself. The entire structure was rattling in its bones and groaning in protest. Kukaku Shiba sprinted down the quaking hall, dodging the occasional dislodged piece of ceiling as she hurried to the workout room which seemed to be the epicenter of this spontaneous earthquake. Only a few steps behind her ran Kyvain, Kita, Match, Pyro and Yoruichi. Seeing her brother sitting in hall and staring in numb shock at the doors, Kukaku skidded to a halt outside the workout room.

"Ganju!" she cried, seizing him by the front of his shirt and pulling him halfway to his feet. "_What have you done?_"

"Sis, I'm so sorry," Ganju muttered. "I didn't think…I mean, holy shit…"

"_What's going on?_"

Ganju swallowed. "It's Syke. She's out of control."

Kukaku released Ganju at once and then slammed open the door. And for once, that particular group of teenagers and a cat was stunned into complete silence.

_Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit – _

I had dove straight into that fucking circle and now the circle was swallowing me whole - drowning me in a black ocean - roaring around me like some kind of dark inferno. I couldn't fence it in - couldn't grab hold of it - could only be swept away by it.

In desperation I called out silently, _Andromeda! I can't hold on – _

"_Alice, you dove down the rabbit hole yourself. Now you've got to catch the fucking rabbit yourself._"

_What does that even mean? I'm going to die here!_

"_You won't die here. No Shinigami was ever slain by her own rietsu._"

_This is my rietsu? How the hell does anyone ever control this shit?_

"_Kukaku is saying something to you. Don't you think you should listen to her instead of asking me stupid questions?_"

_I don't want to. Kukaku scares the shit out of me._

"_Don't be an idiot. It's rather irritating._"

"_SYKE, YOU IDIOT! CONTROL YOURSELF!_"

My eyes opened. The force field was only supposed to be large enough to cover my body but at this point it was filling the entire room and getting still more massive. Something was different now, though. Now I felt the edges of the force field in my mind, warm and charged with energy. _Come in before she hurts me_. The thought was much calmer than those previous to it and even before the force field retreated back towards me, I knew that it would obey. The sphere was alive around me still and so strong but it was mine now. I had the reins - I had the power.

I heard Pyro's voice yell, "_Syke! You didn't fail this time!_" Unbeknownst to me, the force field rippled.

Kukaku yelled, "_Don't lose focus!_"

"What?" For a moment, I was not sure what she was talking about.

A very loud _crack _came from right beside my head. Then the force field blew up in my face.

A very painful second later, I was wincing on my back. And then I knew nothing.

Kita stared at my still form on the ground. "Is she dead?"

Yoruichi jumped on my stomach and bounced a little. "No, she's only sleeping."

Yoruichi jumped down and said to the rest of them, "Look, I'd rather wait to tell you guys this until Syke awakens to hear it but I'm afraid we don't have that kind of – _RRREEEEOOOOWWWW!_"

Unbeknownst to me, my hand had just seized the cat's tail.

Gin Ichimaru smiled. Today had been fun and now it was only getting better. He swung open the double doors and swaggered in like the captain of Squad Three always should - with a spring in his step and a big grin fixed on his face.

He was in the large undecorated room normally reserved for meetings such as this. Polished wood shone beneath his feet, at the far end of the room was the only piece of furniture, a simple chair - on which sat an extremely old man with long eyebrows and squinting eyes. His head was bald and his white beard was long and braided. There was a wooden staff in one hand and he was dressed in black robes with a white coat. Ichimaru could not see it from here but he knew on the back was inscribed the number one.

The ten other people in the room all wore the same black robes and white jacket. They were lined up in two rows with a narrow aisle between them so that the view between Ichimaru and the captain of Squad One, Yamamoto, was unobstructed.

"What's this?" Ichimaru said, narrowed eyes taking in everyone present. "All these VIPs came all the way out here just to see little ol' me?"

"Shut up, Gin." The curt voice came from a tall, imposing man who towered over just about everyone else present. The sleeves were ripped from his white jacket. His black hair stuck out in spikes that were about two feet long each and every tip held a tiny bell - the jingling of which had once led to Ichimaru to ask him whether he'd pulled any sleighs since Christmas.

A narrow scar slashed down the right side of the man's face and the left eye was covered by an eye patch - Ichimaru had also asked him once whether he found that pesky chest of buried treasure or not.

Today, however, Ichimaru nodded to the captain of Squad Eleven and said in a friendly tone, "Kenpachi. You're looking particularly menacing today."

Kenpachi bared his teeth, not amused. "I knew you were a lazy bastard and your squad is next to useless in a fight, but _really? _You couldn't take care of half a dozen or so Ryoka?"

Ichimaru cocked his head, somehow appearing puzzled even with that broad smile on his face. "Oh? Did they survive? Hmmm…How odd. I thought I killed them."

"_Bullshit,_" Kenpachi snarled. "All captains should be more then capable of telling when their opponent's life energy has ceased!"

"Kenpachi, I'm going to be honest with you. I've just been so distracted lately that I–"

"Lay off the opium and maybe you'll see the world a little clearer!"

"Perhaps I _should_," Ichimaru conceded even as he continued walking down the line. He greeted each captain in turn. "Komamura – glad to see you still haven't taken that basket off. Can't allow that ugly mug to see the light of day now, can we? Hitsugaya – they let you out of preschool for this? Shunsui – brush your teeth, man, that's just disgusting. Hey, Soi Fon! Later, do you want to –?"

"_For the last time, no._" Soi Fon answered curtly. She was the rail-thin captain of Squad Two and the Stealth Force, "And _stop sending me Hell butterflies in the middle of the night! _It's creepy!"

Ichimaru managed a dejected smile. "Okay, then."

He immediately brightened when he saw the next person. "Hey, Tousen! Seen any good movies lately – oh wait, I'm sorry. Mayuri – going for the all-natural look? Good for you! Kuchiki – hey, I really am sorry about your sister. Oh, sorry, step-sister. She's been a real pain in the ass lately, hasn't she? Unohana – sorry, I don't have any sarcasm prepared for you, so I'll be on my way…"

He had shivered upon spying the middle-aged woman with her black hair braided in front of her. His voice was grim when he said, "Never again, Unohana." Upon spying a young man with messy brown hair and thick square glasses with black frames, Ichimaru brightened and said, "Hey there, Superman."

"Gin Ichimaru." Yamamoto's voice was extremely serious. "All you are doing now is irritating the very people who are judging you…including myself."

Ichimaru bowed dramatically. "My humble apologies."

"If you didn't know why you're here before, Zaraki has just informed you. And if you were wondering why we said nothing about your insolence before, that is because we were all patiently waiting for an _explanation_."

Ichimaru glanced around and saw that the faces of everyone present bore equally grim expressions. "Commander, I have none."

"_No explanation?_" Yamamoto growled in that voice that told Ichimaru in no uncertain terms that this was his last chance to confess.

"I have no explanation," Ichimaru repeated firmly. Instead of being intimidated by the feel of so many eyes from such powerful people glaring at him, he relished the attention and felt even a little naughty. He continued silkily, "It was a mistake. People are allowed one every now and again, right?"

Toshiro Hitsugaya, Captain of Squad Ten, spoke for the first time. He was half the height of most everyone else there on account of his body being about ten years old – in human years. In defiance of his relative youth, however, his windswept hair was silver and his brilliant blue eyes were coldly intelligent, belonging to a hardened warrior rather than an innocent kid. The voice was of a child but the tone was of a man barely suppressing his rage.

"A _mistake? _Is that what you call it? Ichimaru, you acted alone – _against orders _– and then you allowed them to leave unscathed! But I don't mind all that. What's pissing me off is that you let them get away and now you're lying to our faces when we ask you _why!_ It's a simple question, Gin! You screw up, you answer to _us! _Why did you let them go?"

Gin's squinted eyes examined Captain Hitsugaya as though he were a mildly amusing insect. "I'm sorry," he said seriously. "You didn't raise your hand, so I didn't hear the question."

"_Gin!_" It was Captain Zaraki again, looking seriously irked. "Stop dodging."

_The brat has a friend for once. Then again, Kenny's got a soft spot for small children. _

Gin's smile got wider. "Well…"

"It's time," Kukaku said.

It had taken three people ten minutes to wake me from my slumber and once I was up I wasn't too happy to hear the dawn had not yet broken the horizon. _Only for Rukia_, I thought while standing on that rooftop in a world without coffee. Kita, Match, Kyvain, Pyro, Yoruichi and I were clustered near the canon and standing before Kukaku, who was holding that blasted sphere. Kukaku, Kyvain and Yoruichi were all bright-eyed and alert, while the rest of us showed varying degrees of fatigue.

Something seemed to strike Kita as odd, because she looked down at the black cat standing at our feet and said, "Hey, Yoruichi, can you make a cannonball?"

It occurred to me at that point that Yoruichi had never practiced with us. This seemed to occur to Yoruichi as well, because the head tilted thoughtfully to the side as the cat answered, "You know, I've never tried it before. Let's see."

"_What?_" we teenagers said together in shock. It had taken us _hours _to get it right and if Yoruichi couldn't do it now… _I could be sleeping right now_, I thought bitterly. Yoruichi leaped up on the ball, eyes closed in concentration, and then the ball with the cat standing on top of it floated up into the air as a perfectly spherical force field six feet in diameter materialized itself. After a moment, the force field vanished and Yoruichi floated gently to the ground. "Huh. That was almost as simple as breathing."

"Show-off," I muttered. That was when I noticed something else odd. "Yoruichi...what happened to your tail?"

It was an honest question. The middle of Yoruichi's tail was smashed thin and crinkled up. When I mentioned it, however, Yoruichi's yellow eyes blazed with fury and the voice turned nasty. "_Why? What's wrong with it?_"

"_Do you have a death wish?_" Match hissed to me.

"What? What happened?" Everyone was looking at me like I had done something wrong and I was completely idiotic for even speaking right now.

"_You did that! When you were sleeping, you grabbed that tail! We had to pry your hand from it with a crowbar!_"

I was truthfully at a loss for words so I said the only thing I could: "Oh."

I felt my face turn red. Yoruichi was still glaring daggers at me, so I put on a weak smile and added hurriedly, "There's nothing wrong with it, Yoruichi. It's the most beautiful tail I've ever seen."

Yoruichi turned away and muttered, "Damn right it's the most beautiful tail you've ever seen. It's all I've got!"

"The dawn is breaking," Kukaku announced, interrupting us as she looked toward the horizon. "You guys better get going."

She walked up to the canon and, placing her hand on it, chanted some words. Immediately a large circular hole appeared in the side of the canon where her hand was, allowing us to step inside. The hole sealed itself after us. Standing there with four other people and a cat inside a massive metal tube, I suddenly realized all over again how insane this was.

I heard Kukaku's voice chanting something long and complicated outside. Yoruichi cried, "It's starting. Everyone pour in your spirit energy!"

All of us put our hands (or paws) on the ball and almost immediately a force field large enough to encompass the entire group came into existence. We all looked at each other grimly. _This is it. _I thought. _It begins here…or it ends. Our lives are now in the hands of a psychopath who likes to play with fire._

That's about the point where the walls of the canon disappeared, only to be replaced with the sky.

"Huh," I quipped as we flew through the air. "That was easier than I expected. I thought we'd get thrown around or something."

Ganju scoffed. "Have more faith in us then that, Shinigami!" Ganju fished around inside his shirt and pulled out a scroll of paper which he unrolled. It was covered in untidy scrawling.

"What is _that_?" I questioned sharply.

"Obviously it's the second part of the spell!" Ganju snapped. "It's a two-part spell. Kukaku just performed the first part, which launched it. Now I have to control it. Everyone," Ganju swept his eyes over all of us, "I need to tell you something.

"In order to break through the barrier and _not die_, we all need to pour in the same amount of spiritual pressure!" Ganju warned. "If you put your hands on the sphere, you should see the amount of energy you are putting out verses that of everyone else, and you need to adjust yours accordingly! I'm going to keep us on track in the meantime." All of us nodded to show we understood.

Ganju began chanting, "_Three unicorns traveled four miles to get to a magical forest five years ago - _Oh, wait, that's the wrong one." He flipped over the paper and began reading again. "_The tails of two dragons smacked the faces of three phoenixes while flying four miles above the earth…_"

Kyvain muttered lowly, eyes nearly closed in concentration, "Syke, you're putting out too much." After a moment he added, "That's what he said."

"Am I?" I said, ignoring the stupid joke. I concentrated on cutting down my output instead. "Wait, you can't talk, sir! You're putting out twice as much as I am!"

"That's what she -"

"_Don't say it_!"

"Syke, you're still doing too much," Match said. When Kyvain began to snicker, she told him, "You too!"

Pyro began singing quietly, "_Too much, too young, too fast…_"

"Will you be quiet?" Match exclaimed.

Meanwhile, Ganju was still chanting. "…_ate twenty falcons that were chasing twenty-one mice playing banjos while the wolves ate twenty falcons that were chasing twenty-one mice playing - _HEY!" Ganju exploded, shocking all of us. "_You retards made me repeat that line twice!_"

"Ganju, I'm sorry but these guys -" I tried to explain but suddenly I looked down and saw the Seireitei directly beneath us. Somehow, it seemed even more beautiful than before. "Ganju…are we there already?"

"_Damn!_" Ganju hurriedly folded up the piece of paper and stuck it back in his shirt. "We have no choice! Everyone, pour out as much spiritual energy as you possibly can! Don't hold back!"

The energy field around us glowed brighter.

Within the Seireitei, the alarm bells began to ring.

"_Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Intruder alert!_"

Tegan was sitting on a table in the Squad Four care unit, examining her newly-healed leg. The building they were in reminded her very much of a hospital. There was row after row of beds with curtains around them, most of them open. The floor was white tile and the walls were white. However, it lacked that certain smell that was a combination of disinfectant and death that usually hovered around most human hospitals, which Tegan was more than grateful for. The healing process was completely different, too. A member of Squad Four had sat by her bedside, placed his hands on her leg, and healed it using some sort of energy that shone like light. The sensation was rather like receiving a direct beam of sunlight. It had taken the guy less than five minutes to completely erase that diseased slash from existence and, for once, Tegan was impressed. The guy then got up and left.

Meanwhile, Ukitake was still playing with that stupid hat. He was tossing it up and down and catching it, while talking with her animatedly about everything and nothing. Tegan nodded and smiled at what seemed to be the appropriate times. Beneath the cheer, however, Tegan sensed tension.

"There's something else going on with Rukia's execution," he said suddenly while catching the hat, "I just know it. I mean, the grace period has been shortened by ten days and the Sogyoku has never been used before on someone ranked anywhere below a captain."

"Do you know this for a fact?" Tegan asked.

Ukitake scoffed. "Child, I've been around for as long as that thing has. I think I'd know." He paused thoughtfully. "Though I am getting senile in my old age, I guess."

This piqued Tegan's curiosity. "Just how old are you?"

Ukitake hesitated and got this faraway look in his eyes, as though mentally searching for something. "You know what? I just don't remember. At least a few centuries…maybe a millennia, or close to it…"

"Holy shit," Tegan said without thinking. When Ukitake looked at her oddly, she immediately turned red and added hurriedly, "No, I didn't mean it like that, I meant -"

Ukitake just smiled. "How old are you, Ryoka?"

"Umm…seventeen…" Ukitake's grin got wider. "_And a half!_" Her tone had gotten defensive.

Ukitake shook his head. "Wow. I knew you were young but I didn't think you were practically a toddler. Even Lieutenant Yachiru is older than you!"

"_I am not a toddler!_" Tegan exploded.

"You're short enough to be," Ukitake answered lightly.

Tegan threw up her hands. "_Even a CAPTAIN is making fun of my height! What is with -_"

"_INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!_" The urgent voice appeared to be on loudspeaker and was accompanied by the ringing of bells. Ukitake leaped to his feet and Tegan saw his hand instinctively touch the hilt of his sword.

Tegan quickly got up, too. _That bastard - _"_You CALLED them?_"

Ukitake glanced at her, removing his hand from the zanpakuto. "I told you I wouldn't, and I'm an honorable man. You were with me the whole time, anyway."

Tegan saw that this must be true when several people from Squad Four rushed past her and headed out the door.

"Then what's going on?" Tegan demanded.

"I can't know for certain but I think your friends might be -" Suddenly Ukitake began to cough. Tegan waited for the fit to subside but it seemed to only get worse. The coughing turned to hacking as he doubled over and the hand that had been covering his mouth came away red with blood.

Tegan took a step back, suddenly more fearful then before. "_What - _Are you okay?" Tegan suddenly realized that she had just asked a very stupid question when Ukitake collapsed to the floor. She whirled around and hollered, "_HEY! SQUAD FOUR, WE NEED HELP IN HERE!_"

Almost immediately a group of three men in black robes and green sashes came running back through the door. "What happened?" one of them called.

Another, upon spying Ukitake, cried, "_It's the captain! He's having another attack!_"

_Another attack? _Tegan thought in disbelief as she found herself pushed aside as the healers huddled around the fallen captain. _How long has he had this disease? He said he was centuries old, at least…That poor man. _Then her face hardened in resolution.

_Forget it. There's nothing I can do about it and I'm needed elsewhere._

With that thought, Tegan stealthily skirted around the Squad Four members and sprinted out the door.

"_INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT! INTRUDER ALERT!_"

Ichimaru lifted his head slightly at the sound of the alarm. "Oh my," he said silkily. "I wonder what's going on?"

Yamamoto appeared none too pleased at the interruption. Then again, as usual, Ichimaru seemed to be the only happy person there. For a moment, silence reigned.

Abruptly Kenpachi Zaraki muttered, "Fuck this shit." Then he ran across the room, slammed open the double doors, and was gone.

The other captains watched him go, none really surprised by his random exit. The man was always running off to fight somebody. Ichimaru glanced around at the rest of them and if possible he was grinning more broadly then before.

"Well, the alarm is going off, and one of our own has gone missing. I think this is a good time to wrap it up. What do you say, old man?"

Yamamoto, whom the last question was directed toward, furrowed his brow in irritation. "Don't push your luck, Gin. Everyone!" he called. "Get your squads into defensive positions. _This is not a drill!_" All of the captains bowed and then filed out of the room.

One captain stopped and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Ichimaru, though they faced opposite directions. He was a tall, well-built young man with messy brown hair and square glasses with thick black frames. Behind them, his eyes were brown and normally gentle. Right now, however, they were flat.

"Awful convenient that the alarm sounded when it did," the captain of Squad Five, Sosuke Aizen, quipped suspiciously.

There was a third captain who remained for a moment, unacknowledged by the other two. Standing within earshot but not close enough to participate was Toshiro Hitsugaya.

Ichimaru didn't seem too concerned about Aizen's tone. "It _was _convenient, wasn't it?" His voice was almost playful.

Aizen shook his head just once. "Don't underestimate me. I know about your secret…and I also know what you've been missing isn't missing anymore."

Hitsugaya stared at them both, puzzlement in his eyes.

Aizen then continued on his way…leaving Ichimaru without a smile on his face.

This time, we _did _feel the impact. All of us were suddenly flung forward as our cannonball struck the invisible barrier. Somehow we all managed to hang on to the ball in our hands.

After the collision, we stopped.

I could see waves disturb the air where we had stopped, waves emanating outward from our sphere. "_Don't stop!_" Yoruichi yelled. "_We're almost there!_"

"_PUSH!_" Pyro hollered. All of us yelled together as we gave it our all.

Renji Abarai, Lieutenant of Squad Six, and Kira Izuru, Lieutenant of Squad Three, were together watching the projectile's progress. Kira was a young man of average height with shockingly blonde hair that fell over his eyes. Like Renji, he wore the traditional black robes and his Lieutenant badge on his arm. Neither one had needed to wear their badge until today, something which had caused both of them to complain very loudly. Now, however, both began to think that these Ryoka may cause more trouble than previously expected.

Renji stared open-mouthed at the strange ball of light sending ripples through the air. "_What the hell is that?_"

Kira hypothesized, "It might be those pesky Ryoka."

"Oh, you mean the ones _your _captain failed to finish off?" Renji said sarcastically.

Kira clenched his jaw in irritation. "I told you, ass. It was a fluke."

"Whatever." Renji let that slide for now, knowing he could use it to bug Kira later. After examining the light a little longer, he observed suddenly, "They fail to get through the gate, so they try to get in _through the sky?_"

Kira quipped, "The idiots must not have known about the barrier."

"If they didn't before, they do now."

"Five dollars says they don't get through."

"What are doll-hairs?"

Kira sighed and shook his head. "Never mind, Renji."

Something went through Renji's mind suddenly. _I wonder if _she's _there? _Renji smiled. _Almost certainly. Come on, little whatever-it-is. Bring her here…so I can kill her._

"Renji? Are you okay, buddy?" Renji came out of his thoughts to see Kira examining him with concern.

"Of course I am!" Renji snapped. "What's wrong with _you?_"

"Oh, nothing," Kira said defensively.

"_Kira, _what is it?"

"You just…looked evil for a second."

"Evil?"

"Yeah, evil. Like you would start laughing maniacally any moment."

Renji smiled at that.

Tegan was looking at the same point of light from a street many blocks away. _Could it be?_

"_PUSH!_"

_What, are we giving birth? _I thought wryly as we all continued to scream together.

And then suddenly, we were through.

"_Damn!_" Kira yelled, running toward the point of impact. Renji felt like copying Ikkaku's Lucky Dance.

"_What's going on?_" I shouted. The force field had just dissipated, leaving us suspended in midair just below the barrier.

"The cannonball's energy is all that's holding us up!" Yoruichi shouted. "Once it releases itself, we're going to be thrown very violently! _We need to stay together!_"

"_What?_" Match yelled.

"_Everyone grab the person closest to you!_"

I whirled around to see who had just grabbed my arm - it was Ganju. "_NO! Anyone but you!_' I yelled. I felt Yoruichi's claws sink into my shoulder.

"_At least it's you instead of THAT guy!_" Ganju shouted back, pointing.

I looked to see who he was referring and saw Kyvain, who was currently grabbing hold of both Kita and Pyro.

_Somebody's missing…_

"_Match!_" Kyvain yelled.

"_Sis!_" Pyro cried.

Match was reaching for them, but the force that was pulling us apart was drawing Match ever further from the rest of us. "_Help!_"

Kyvain never hesitated. Shoving himself away from Pyro and Kita, he propelled himself through the air, seized Match, and threw her so that she collided with her brother. Pyro and Match looked at each other. As Pyro seized her, Match whirled and hollered, "_KYVAIN YOU JERK!_"

Kyvain just shrugged in response.

There was a roar and a flash of light, and suddenly there was the sensation of going down…

Kenpachi Zaraki watched four beams of light separate themselves from the point of impact: one went north, another south, a third east, the last west. Kenpachi glanced at each one in turn.

"These people fought against Ichimaru and survived…which one is the strongest?"

A one-in-four chance of getting the strongest member of the Ryoka was a slim chance but Kenpachi would take whatever he could get. It had been so long since he had a decent fight…

"_Damn!_" Renji yelled. "_Which one? Where'd the bitch go? "_

"Be safe everyone." Tegan muttered lowly, before she took off through the Seireitei.


End file.
